What Truly Matters by Carrie Anderson
Tiny living. It sure is a hot word right now. Most people probably conjure up some picture in their mind of what this looks like. Perhaps it’s an empty nester couple living the RV life and seeing the sights, a young single person living in a tiny home, or a young couple renovating a short bus. But most people can’t envision a family, especially a large one, living a small life.
Our family put our little 1400 square foot house on the market earlier this month, and it went under contract in less than 24 hours. So now, this family of 8 (6 kids ranging from 2 ½ up to 13) is searching for our new home in a travel trailer. Not quite the upgrade with room to grow that would be typical for this stage of life.
“Why would you want to do that?” you ask, well over the past few years my husband and I have been evaluating our priorities. We thought of our why and what we are living and striving for. When it boils down to it, our faith is our motivation. Matthew 6:33 is a verse that we return to often:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
We could be consumed with getting the next promotion, to make more money, to get that bigger house so we can buy more stuff, but at the end of our days, which are fleeting, none of those things are going to stand the test of time. We hold firm to the reality that people matter, our relationships with our children matter, the things we choose to do with our time matter, and the people those said things impact matter. Obviously, you can have these priorities living a so called normal house life, and I hope you do, but we feel led to take this path.
Living debt free affords us some flexibility, living in a travel trailer allows us to be flexible in where we go, the places we can serve others, and actually see places rather than just viewing them in a book. It’s going to bring us closer, literally, but also in our relationships with others. Guys, this is going to be HARD. It would be easier to send my kids to their rooms and stress eat chocolate, but I know that living in a close space is going to force us to address issues that are so easy to ignore when you have space to spread out which is going to make this healthier in the long run.
This isn’t going to be a free for all vacation, this is going to be a real challenge in the way we perceive family, other people, our flexibility, our wants and needs. It’s not going to be all fun, but we are convinced that it will be all worth it. I’ve never known someone persevere through the challenge of learning to play the piano and say that it wasn’t worth their time. People persevere through the hard seasons of getting masters and doctorates degree’s because they believe it will be worth it. As my brother just told me:
“Most things worth doing aren’t easy.”
So, it is with this in mind that we keep running toward the goal. Keep in mind that tiny living, minimalism, debt free living, and travel aren’t the goal, just tools to propel us toward it. The goal is to live in light of what impacts eternity. To be willing hands, feet, and mouths as we seek to honor God.
As a mom this is my goal, to show my kids what really matters, to have a loose hold on things, and that people around them matter. Hard work, especially that impacts someone else, matters. Even if the house sale falls through for some reason, this mindset has already impacted our family. We hold lightly to stuff and this enters the great purge of 2018-2019. There have been 150 trash bags and counting. Our kids have been learning teamwork by learning how to work together through getting a house ready for a showing and this helped our kids think of other people’s needs above their own.
This could be a short season or have no end in sight. I imagine someday we’ll get another house, and hopefully be more aware of what our needs really are instead of listening to what society tells us what we need to be happy.
Hopefully you can join us on this journey as we learn, serve, and take time for what matters most. It won’t be all fun, but it will be all worth it.
PC: Mary Morgan