the adventure of finding home

Well, I need to be out of Residence by April 26 so I have been looking high and low for a place to call "home" for the next year of my life. Because I don't know what my exact income is going to be each month, I have been budgeting on the conservative side because I would rather be surprised to find that I have more income than I believe than side-swiped by making less than I am spending on rent, groceries, car insurance, etc. It has bee interesting to discover what $589/month will get someone and what $900+ will bring. The range is huge!

For example, the place that I "toured" this morning was $589/month with heat, water, and cable included in rent. Parking was an additional $55/month (that's ridiculously steep for the parking lot that they offer) and then electricity was sub-metered. So that sounds like a decent deal, right? I think that I have a fairly open mind about where I could potentially live but I was scared as soon as I walked into this building. As a single, young woman I cannot imagine living in a place like that. I felt like I was in the dodgiest area of Berlin in the middle of a Jason Bourne movie, except it wasn't the cool fight scene part but the part where he wanders through the dark alleys and there are rats scurrying about underfoot.

With all that being said, I cannot help but be thankful that God has blessed me with enough that I don't have to live there. I have the choice of where I can live and, if it came down to it, I am sure that my parents would let me move back home before they would let me live there. I don't know the stories of the people who live in that apartment building and maybe that truly does feel like home to them. I feel as though I have come across condescendingly and that was not my intent. This morning made me thankful. I have more than enough and not because of my own efforts but because God, for some unknown reason, saw fit to bless me with being raised in a family that never wanted for anything.

So what have I done with those blessings in reaching out to those who do want for the things that I take for granted? Often when I think of blessing, I am reminded of a picture that my friend drew while I was at Prairie. Amy's drawing was of a pitcher that had water flowing into it from above, symbolizing the blessing that God pours into our life. But the pitcher was also overflowing and splashing on the ground all around it, which symbolized how we should receive blessing and then let it flood out to those around us. So how do I bless people with the abundance that I have? Can I bless people if I am not dwelling in the blessing of God?

Funny how a simple apartment tour can bring up so many questions in my heart.

-Elisa.