December | 2012

I’ve been interested in downsizing for quite some time, especially as our 2 children who grew up in this house have moved on and only come back to visit or stay a short time. Before we can effectively downsize I am learning we must embrace our place. I kept these sermon notes from somewhere or other and shared them at the assisted living place we visit:

Sermon notes of message by Chris Cain

Moses was on the back side of the desert. This is where Moses was supposed to be. God came to the place Moses was (where he was supposed to be). God came to him. Moses acknowledged God in the midst of the barrenness.

Moses was content where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t resigned, but content. God wants us to be content until He launches us to the next place. If we don’t stay in our place, He can’t take us to our place.

Exodus 3: 1-4
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

What we see does not need to be all we see. If what we see is all we see, then we will never see all that there is to see. There is more going on than we know.

Jesus was praying in the olive grove called Gethsemane. He prayed, “but nevertheless, not my will but Your will be done.”

God wants us to be content in our place. If we embrace our place, we can never be misplaced, displaced or replaced.

We may feel we’ve been placed on the back side of the desert. But we must be prepared for what God has for us. Contentment is great gain.

If we are content to embrace our place, the pressure is off. We merely have to take our place. No stress.

I would like to get a smaller ‘fridge, but first we will buy a new washer.

Here is our kitchen; you can see a smaller refrigerator would be ideal; 17 square feet would be sufficient for 2-3 people instead of this 24 or more square feet one. There are too many cabinets, although there is something in all of them.

I also would like a lighter kitchen. I found the following nice efficient kitchen pictures; either one would be fine but I would prefer a window over the kitchen sink. I really don’t need so much counter space; it is usually covered with clutter, so less clutter space would be fine!