What a random box told me

So I said goodbye to my job with AECOM. As I was packing the assortment of textbooks, mugs, toothpicks, a jar of onion marmalade and my duck tea infuser into a box, I slowly came to grips with the fact that every period of my life has been better than the last.

I didn't much enjoy my childhood, but as I got older I felt like I belonged more. High school was better than primary. University was better than high school. And now the empty desk, full box and heavy heart were telling me that this stage of life had been better still.

I think belonging has a lot to do with it. AECOM has a lot of expats, and it was beautifully comforting to see a whole bunch of people try and make Brisbane feel like home together, especially from my perspective of leaving everything I knew in Sydney. Similarly, Unichurch is made up of a motley bunch trying to make the best of a new place, and the dual embrace of not being quite sure where home is and a shared faith in Jesus has an almost contradictory way of giving us all a place to belong.

I felt a little like one of the random things in my box: having a reason for being where I was, though it was hard to tell from looking at it.

I left with a complex emotion, grieving the end of a great time, but also utterly grateful that life's journey has had the trajectory it's had so far. And I'm confident that this next stage in life has the same potential to outdo it's predecessors. Even if I haven't yet found anywhere to put the stuff in that box.