The Problem with Packing...

The problem with packing is that is makes me grouchy...very grouchy.
Since Chad and I are less than 72 hours away from our move to Kentucky, packing has consumed every ounce of my life and every positive thought in my mind these past few days. And because I am now a college graduate, I have taken it upon myself to use my "earned and official" critical thinking skills to analyze the problem of why packing makes me so grouchy.
First, let me explain to you just how grouchy packing makes me...
More than once my husband (Chad) has said to me "maybe you should take a nap," and "why don't you just go sit down and I will do all the packing," and "I'm leaving now, this would be a good time for you to pack," and "maybe we should coordinate our sleeping and packing schedules--Ill stay up late and pack while you are asleep if you will get up early and back while I am asleep"...and the list continues. Needless to say, I haven't been very pleasant these past few days--and for that I am truly sorry.
However, my sincerest apologies do not change the persistence of my attitude to be less than pleasant.
After reflecting on my poor disposition, I feel I have stumbled upon a few reasons for my recent sourness. Packing in its physical nature is very tiresome, tedious, and troubling--things which might make one weary and perhaps even grumpy. But for me, the truth of the matter is that during this dreadful packing process I have not only been packing up my physical things and belongings but in a way I feel as though I have been packing up the last four years of my life.
You see, in the midst of all these boxes and bags are memories...and if I may say so, lots of memories. Just today I packed up CDs of my engagement pictures, a picture frame from my RAing days, wedding paraphernalia (like you wouldn't believe), piano books from high school, stuffed animals and notes from my dating days, notes of encouragement from my freshman year of college, letters from old friends, and much much more. To put all of these memories into sealed boxes just has a way of reminding me how life is moving on, and for that matter that life is moving on much quicker than I had imagined it would.
Now I will be the first to admit that change and I have a strong love-hate relationship--emphasis on the hate. However, it seems that while I really don't like the excitement, newness, and discomfort of change, I also really don't like to get stuck in a rut of going through motions. Being in the same place, same state of mind, same hairstyle, same clothes, same position, or same anything for too long becomes just too comfortable..and for me, to become too comfortable is to become stagnant. With every part of my life, especially my spiritual life, I find myself striving to never become stagnant or overly comfortable--for when I am, I do not grow. So why then do I find this change of relocation so difficult? Because it is forcing me to grow.
One last thought,
Some of my favorite Biblical illustrations are those of plants and growth. Throughout the New Testament Jesus uses many illustrations of vines, plants, and bushes to illustrate the need for continual growth in HIM.
So, as I struggle my way through the rest of my packing, I will take comfort in His word and promise in John chapter 15:
I am the vine and you are the branches... Apart from me you can do nothing.
Just as a branch separated from its supporting vine cannot live, let alone produce any fruit, so we are helpless when were not connected to Jesus, the source of our hope and salvation.