What baggage are you carrying on your journey? Are you aware of its weight? Light? Heavy? Is it pity? Or, unforgiveness? Maybe it’s an intolerant attitude toward all the mistakes you’ve made? Maybe it’s a deep sadness. But those are only the negative baggage pieces and there are light ones too. There are memories and hopes and dreams. There are experiences and people. The point seems to be that we all carry excess baggage the dilemmas are: how much do we let it influence our daily life and how heavy is it? Perhaps the most salient question is… do we want to continue carrying it and if so, which pieces?
For me, I’ve discovered that the only ‘light’ baggage to carry are such things as happiness, not pie in the sky or rose colored glasses, but a deep sense of happiness. Another to carry is joy. Scripture tells us that the “…joy of the Lord is our strength…”. What about peace? Is that in your backpack too? A tad bit of mischief? Much of your attitude about your baggage is related to your attitude about your life. Are you a person who uses your experiences as guides but not as the irrefutable authority? An inquiring spirit is another excellent piece to add. Again, the point is that not all baggage is heavy.
Many times the items we carry with us hold a great deal of significance for us… but sometimes their value is nil. But every once in awhile we need to do a ‘clear out’ – to rid ourselves of those items that carry no value or may be detrimental to us. Sometimes we carry things that we really don’t realize we are – this often happens in the realm of unforgiveness. Why hold onto those things that beset us and instead make room for those things that are a comfort, encouragement, or strengthening?
Quite honestly I find that when I do look at many of those items that I’m intending to clear out, I discover that they were only dead weight and did nothing to enhance my journey. A nearly euphoric feeling occurs when I feel the lightness that now exists, after I have rid myself of those pieces, and I tend to ask myself, ‘why did I carry it for so long?’ Baggage is there to help us, not hinder. As a result we should always look at their benefit for us on our journey.
… do you have excess baggage?
