Tents & Risks & Following the Lord

 Can you tell I'm going through my electronic pile of draft posts? Some of them seem to be worth posting now even though they've been sitting around for years!

Written Summer of 2012 - We've been in our new home in Kirkland, Washington for about 16 months. It's been a good move for us. We love the people and the area. However, our Ohio and Michigan friends and family are deeply missed. A huge part of the decision to move was the feeling that this is where the Lord wanted us to be at this point in our lives.

Picking up and moving our home across the country was a decision full of risks. In many ways that decision didn't make sense. To move or not to move - that was the basis of many, many discussions. We are glad we decided yes. We probably would have regretted it if we'd had the feeling but didn't act on it because we let the risks on the "con" list outweigh the risk of regret.

Heather Farrell wrote about tents, homes, and roots here. Her thoughts struck a cord with me. She and her husband were contemplating a major change in their lives, and a move. It was making her feel "topsy turvy." Farrell turned to the scriptures to learn from women who had to leave their homes, move their tents, into the unknown. She wanted to have the kind of faith they had.

Farrell said she was "feeling a bit like I imagine Sarah felt when she and Abraham left their home in Haran to go into the wilderness of Canaan, to".. the land that I will shew thee" (Genesis 12:1)." As I re-read the story of Lehi and Sariah leaving Jerusalem I was really struck by this verse in 1 Nephi 2:15 in which Nephi simply states, "And my father dwelt in a tent." This verse is often used light heartily as the shortest verse in the Book of Mormon, yet this one little verse is packed full of meaning.  It indicates that Nephi and his family had finally made a choice. They had officially given up their affluent, city dwelling, stable life style for the difficultly and uncertainty of being guided by the Lord in the desert. That couldn't have been an easy to choice to make, or an easy road to follow. Yet look at the incredible things that came as a result of that one choice!"

She continues: "I think what I am coming to learn, slowly, is that the Lord expects each of us to "dwell in a tent", in a figurative way.  Even though ancient peoples often pitched their tents for long periods of time, tents (unlike houses) are not permanent structures and can (and were) taken down in order to move on to a richer part of land, escape conflict, or simply because the Lord commanded it. Today those who"dwell in a tent" are those whose hearts are open to the Lord and are are willing to go where He wants them to go-- instead of being tied down by their houses, their riches, or their desire for comfort. To  truly be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, like Sarah and Abraham or Lehi and Sariah, we must be willing to leave everything behind  if it is required of us and go where the Lord directs."

Following the Lord's direction always brings blessings. Those blessings sometimes are immediately apparent. Other times, it takes a while to understand the whys and see the blessings."

Summer of 2016 - After the above I have a few phrases and thoughts that weren't fully developed. I can tell I wasn't sure if I wanted to further talk about risks and/or following the Lord's counsel when it involves a change as large as this one was.

Moving forward with faith in Christ. That's what we did. That's what we continue to do. We feel even more strongly than we did five years ago that this is where we are supposed to be. The timing for our move was probably just right.