Things We Leave Behind

The truck was in the driveway.
I have seen a truck there four times before.
This time was a bit different.
This time was the last time.

Our youngest daughter got her own apartment.
She has been out of college for two years.
She has a full time job.
She got her feet under her first and decided that now was the time.

I’ve heard that reasoning.
I’ve had my heartstrings tugged four times before.
This time it was my youngest.
In many ways, this time was different.

We raised them to be independent, my husband reminded me.
We raised them to leave us and go out on their own, he added.
I know, I said.
My heartstring tugged a bit more.

She is not very far away.
She is in a little town.
She can walk to many things, which is exactly what she wanted.
She always wanted to be in an old house and found the perfect place for her.

I saw the bins filled with her things, which she placed in an another bedroom.
I saw all the pictures off her walls.
I saw shelves emptied of her books.
I saw an empty closet.

I will miss the color of my room, she admitted.
She chose a warm country gold color many years ago.
It was a wonderful choice.
Her room is the brightest in the house; the golden color is washed with sunlight.

It is a joyful room.
It is a peaceful room.
It is a cozy room.
It is a room that makes you take a deep breath.

I have no intention of changing the color.
Though the room will now be for my granddaughters when they sleep over.
My daughter knows that her oldest niece will love the golden color.
Wait till she sees the comforter I used to have in college; she will be so excited.

I know that my oldest granddaughter will miss her Aunt.
Since she has been working remotely, my granddaughter knew that she was here.
My daughter would make berry smoothies in the morning and share them with her.
It was their special time together.

She is excited to be on her own.
Though I tease her that her car must remember how to drive home.
With all her siblings and nieces, she will be here often.
She plans to be intentional about that and I am so glad.

She was moved out and in her new apartment quickly and efficiently.
She and her dad made a coffee table out of 100-year-old walnut wood from our town.
She made a blanket ladder by herself, with some instruction from her dad.
She had a mental picture of how her apartment would look.

I am better at helping beforehand.
We cleaned the apartment.
My husband hung some blinds.
We set up her kitchen and bathroom before she moved in.

I was not part of the moving team.
My back and heavy bins do not mix.
But I brought the pizza.
By the time I arrived, everything was in place.

When my husband and I bought our first house, we slept on the dining floor the first night.
We wanted to paint before our furniture arrived.
I remember waking up that first morning in my new home.
As we got up to start the day, my husband saw some loose change under a baseboard.

I found 87 cents, he said holding it in his hand.
I guess we can deduct 87 cents from the price of the house!
I laughed at the absurdity of his comment.
He put the 87 cents on a windowsill.

I thought of restaurants with a framed dollar bill on the wall.
That 87 cents was significant.
We bought a house but did not have a lot of wiggle room in our budget back then.
I thought of that 87 cents often; left from the previous owners, unbeknownst to them.

When I was cleaning and helping my daughter, I found a dime tucked near a baseboard.
I held it up and laughed.
I told her the story of our first house and the 87 cents.
Your rent is actually 10 cents less, I said with a giggle.

With a bit of ceremony, I put the dime on the kitchen windowsill.
It was still there on moving day.
I saw it as I laid the pizza on the counter.
It was left there by the previous tenant, unbeknownst to her.

Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” And at once they left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:20)

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)

Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (John 4:28,29)

There were things that people left behind in order to follow Jesus.
Things that had been so important before they met Him, were not needed now.
Simon Peter’s nets, Matthew’s tax table, and the woman’s water jug were left without regret.
Following Jesus meant everything to them.

87 cents and one lone dime were left behind.
They were left behind and serve as an object lesson.
There are things we leave behind that bless others.
There is such freedom in the things we leave behind.

The dime still sits on my daughter’s kitchen windowsill.
I hope she sees it as a paradigm for following Jesus.
What do you need to leave behind in order to follow Him?
Nothing is too small or insignificant.