Attachment

About a month ago I taped up this verse on my bedroom mirror: "But godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6) In many ways it's very easy for me to be content right now - I love my housemates, I like my job, I feel connected to the community around me, I am learning about myself and the world and generally becoming more of the person I want to be and see as who God is creating/has created me to be. October has been extremely busy and I've been stressed at several different times, but never once did I think that I'm not content to be where I am.
There have been two very different loses that have affected the house this month. First off, chronologically, 4 of our bikes were stolen out of our garage, mine included. (Yes, we filed a police report, but there's not much to be done about it since we didn't have our bikes registered with the city.) And secondly, this past week two of the residents at Joseph's House died. One of the members, Josh, was particularly dear to Katy, my housemate who works there. On top of that she missed his memorial service because she was taking another resident to a doctor's appointment where they were treated rudely and made to wait hours on end. I had met Josh a few weeks earlier and even though he was sick and tired, he was able to walk around and put on a mixed CD of R&B for our enjoyment during dinner. He had a ready smile and was a very gentle, kind-hearted guy.
So that brings me to this question: What are we supposed to hold on to? At first I was going to write about not holding onto things because if I held tightly onto my bike as my personal possession I wouldn't be able to handle the current situation with grace and perspective. But the opposite is true of Katy's loss. If she had not held on tightly to Josh's life, then she would not have been able to love him as well as she did.
The obvious point would be that we can only hold onto the things of God. But this takes a lot more discernment than that small statement. I hope this doesn't seem trite, but my bike took me on some awesome rides in God's creation and I loved every minute of it. And I'm sure that Katy loved every minute that she got to spend with Josh. So I'll just keep clinging on to love, which is what is making my life so great right now.