DRAGGING THAT BAGGAGE

Last week included a post about the homeless.  I gave you a word picture of the woman I saw rolling her huge bag a block and walking back to pick up two large stuffed plastic bags and proceeding to the point of the bag.  She was making her trek by repeating this process over and over.  



My dear friend sent me these words of wisdom,


"Quite a picture of our pilgrimage-weighed down with bags of our sin and stuff of the world.  Feel like I have spent some time backtracking to get the rest."

I began thinking of all the baggage we carry around with us--unable to shed the useless weight.  My bag is sometimes filled with regret, pain, sadness, envy, anger, selfishness, pride, sloth, ---the stuff of the world with a side of sin.  I lug this bag around as if it were filled with precious possessions instead of deadly weight.


As I march forward day after day, adding more stuff to the bag as I go, I slowly begin to bend beneath the weight of it all.  Stooped and exhausted--each step becomes a burden.


And then there are those things I keep trying to leave behind---but which I keep back tracking and picking up again.  Those negative emotions, the anger toward another, the long ago hurt---all the stuff life pitched at me and I can not seem to leave behind.  I throw them out and move on---only to turn around--go back---and pick them up yet again.

As I sat and waited for the electronic gate to open at the shelter and spotted that woman, I doubt she had any idea I was watching her and how profoundly I was affected by her struggle.  She was dragging all her stuff along the sidewalk just trying to find a place to stay on a cold night.  I am certain she thought she needed everything she was dragging and was doing the best she could with the load she had.  I drove away--heart broken.

Here is what I have discovered over the past few months.  Every time I stoop down to pick an old burden which will drag me down again, I have prayed and asked God to take it from me---help me to leave it behind.  He has faithfully done that each and every time I have asked.  NOW--because I am human---I am not able to put it down and leave it down, but each time I backtracked---He has answered my prayer and helped me move forward without the extra weight that needs to be left behind.

So, Friends, I pray you carefully consider what is in the baggage you are carrying along life's road.  He has promised to lighten our load---if we only ask.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28

12 comments

  1. A Beautiful post, Lulu...Thank you...

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    1. Praying your week is a great one!
      Blessings, Friend!

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  2. Lulu, we all carry baggage with us with all sorts of emotions and regrets perhaps of things gone wrong or bad in our lives. It's part of our human nature. We are born with these emotions because God made us this way. He gave us emotions, good and bad, and the responsibility to use them wisely.

    If we didn't have such baggage then we'd all have the hump just like the camel. Or the dromadory to give it its proper name. Or if it has two humps it's called the dormitory. Or with three humps it's called Humphrey.

    So we carry baggage instead of stooping low with a hump or three on our backs. You're right in saying that we should off-load our baggage of these emotions that drag us down in life.

    Empty you baggage of negative emotions. That's what I say. And replace them with pizza, burgers and beer.

    I hope and pray that your load is light, Lulu. God bless you.

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    1. Dormitory - Humphrey Victor- where do you get this stuff!!!
      Blessings, Friend!

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  3. I've spent too much of life hauling around baggage that I never should have claimed to begin with. Your pictures are eye-opening, Lulu ... especially #3.

    Whoever said a picture's worth ten thousand words must have seen that image. Thanks for this gentle reminder, friend.

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    1. Amen, Friend!! Missed you- I hope your anniversary celebration was wonderful!
      Blessings, My Friend!

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  4. What a poignant analogy! Thank you for your inspiring thoughts, Lulu. May the Lord continue His richest blessings in your life!

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    1. Thank you, Paul. Hope all is well in your world!
      Blessings!

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  5. I tend to ruminate over this or that event like a cow in a pasture with nothing else better to do. Best to spit it out, and move on. Still working on that. Excellent lesson.
    Hope your day is blessed. ~:)

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    1. Sparky, again Great Minds- I have been thinking of posting about our friends who chew their cud!
      Blessings, Friend!

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  6. I need to read this every day!!! This post really hit me between the eyes and in my heart, because this is what I do. Unload just to pick it back up. It seems I can forgive but not forget!! And then I wonder did I truly forgive? Thank you for this favorite post and I am sharing on my timeline so I can read it daily. Love you. God is truly blessing others thru you and your wise counseling.

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    1. You are kind, Friend! We all forget and go back and pick it back up!
      Love you too!

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Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!