Erasing

I used to have a chalk board above my desk that held my most frequently used phone numbers. (That was back before fancy cell phones began holding your entire life within it's tiny shell.) My chalkboard was easy to use, economical to maintain, and readily available whenever I was home. But one drawback is that it was messy. Thick, coarse chalk sticks do not create the loveliest handwriting, nor do they print numbers in a soft flow. And even though I had a dime store eraser available, most times I crossed things out or smudged them with a spit-wet index finger.
While spring cleaning one year, I decided to do away with my chalk board. I had a brand new Rolodex that was just waiting to be alphabetically filled with addresses, phone numbers and additional contact resources. This nifty devise also held business cards and scraps of important notes. It soon made my blackboard obsolete.
So, I decided to wipe the chalkboard clean. I spritzed it with Windex and proceeded to remove all remants of my old fashioned communications system.
But, you know what? Everyday for almost 6 months, I kept glancing at the board whenever I needed a number. I even tried to view the board from different angles to see if those numbers were still faintly visible, hoping that they had somehow survived the final erasure. As convenient and modern as my new system was, I had difficulty making a simple change.
I 'm trying to do the same thing now, but with my life. Is it possible to start over in a new place with new things? Will I keep looking back, hoping to see things I've left behind? Will the new way work? Will I regret the decisions I am making for my future? Or will they finally become a part of me and be as natural as breathing?
I look at all my keepsakes and wonder if I should carefully fold them into a bubble wrapped nest and take them with me. Or should I pass them along to someone who would love them? Should I wipe my slate completely or partially? How will I choose what to keep and what to leave behind?
Just like my phone number system, I try to imagine eventually getting used to the new ways, new
place, new beginnings. It is all a matter of taking the leap...
And I hold this promise as comfort...

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...