This Cocoon of Mine

For years I have believed that we are only in transit to heaven. We are mostly spiritual beings, caught for a moment in a cocoon of the physical world before being released into the eternal. But our possessions wrap themselves around us, making us feel like this cocoon is permanent. It isn't. It is only a stopping point, a layover on our journey to the real world.

I needed to be reminded of that this past month when I walked through my house deciding what was worth enough to put in a storage shed and what was better off being sold or given away. It was a good exercise for me. She who thought she wasn't very sentimental started to feel attached to things. 

I felt grasping, clutching to my heart things I love. It hurts to let them go. It wasn't just possessions. There are friendships that will be changed by our move across the ocean. I wanted to hang on. Opening my hand to release them gave me an unexpected sense of insecurity. 

And then I realized that in holding on to my things, I'm only trying to create a cocoon of permanence around a life that isn't meant to be permanent at all. The false walls of my possessions give the personification that this life is reality. That antique dish given by my great-aunt feels like it should be part of my family forever. But in reality? It is only a thread of my cocoon making me feel like a citizen of earth. 

The thing is, I'm not. And I will be glad of that on the day this cocoon bursts open and lies in pieces at my feet. I won't miss all this 'stuff' that has wrapped their silky arms around me. I'll laugh the laugh of the free when I'm winging my way towards Home. In those moments, I'll be glad for each time I've purposely loosened my grip on temporal things. 

Opening my hand willingly to release some of this terrestrial webbing is an exercise good for my soul. I am mostly spiritual, after all, when adding Eternity into the equation. Every reminder I have of that will make me more earnest in my walk with God, offer me a more heavenly perspective, and make my cocoon feel more like a rest stop and less like home.