Baggage Claim
“Welcome to your destination. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
Here you are! Off you go! On to adventure, into the great wide world beyond! Whoops! As soon as you stop by baggage claim. You packed heavy for this trip, remember? I’m guessing the over-sized, 50lb suitcase you dragged with you to check-in seemed like a great idea at the time. Watching it fly by on the carousel with a pile of luggage still attached to your body, it is starting to feel less great. Did I overpack? Wait this isn’t even mine. No, come back! Argh. You wait. You find your bags, you pull them off, and you limp away like a wounded baby elephant until you reach the hotel. The elevator is out of service. “We apologize for the inconvenience.” But your room is still on the third floor, so up you go!
When it happens to me I tell myself, Third floor? Up the stairs? No problem. I can do this. I’ve been working out. By step number five I think the walls have started closing in on me like a trash compactor from the Death Star and my suitcase is the Dianoga garbage monster. Here is a tip about carrying baggage: Don’t let it drag you down a flight of stairs.
Most of us probably feel like we carry around baggage. Maybe it’s your chronic illness, or the divorce from a few months back. Maybe its your fear of commitment or your addiction to pornography. Maybe you just feel unlovable, for no reason at all. Maybe you are worried that if people could really see you, they’d want to stop looking. Maybe it feels like if you keep going up that flight of stairs you’ll fall right back down it again.
I get it. I think there are tools God has given us to help us let go of bags we don't need, but it isn’t as easy as leaving behind your brown shoes because you already packed your black ones. Some of us have to pack heavy for while. For me, chronic illness is still a big suitcase. I’ve opened it up, I’ve shown you what’s inside, I’ve let you in on some of my secrets, but every now and then I wish the suitcase was closed. I wish you didn’t know about my baggage. I wish I could leave it rolling around on the carousel pretending it wasn’t mine. But it is mine and I've got to haul it up the stairs. Meanwhile I’m trying to take what’s inside and learn from it while I’ve got it. I guess what surprises me is how often other people need what’s inside my suitcase too. Baggage: everybody has it. Who knew?
I am a passenger on the air transportation system of life. I carry baggage. I get nervous about long layovers and delayed trips. I am sometimes so thrilled by the miracle of flight I forget about the discomfort of turbulence. Sometimes I get free food just for going on the ride! There are great days on the plane and bad days. Sometimes I don't even know where the plane is going. I am a flight risk, but probably one worth taking. I carry baggage. Sometimes it feels like so much baggage I'm hauling the kitchen sink. I used to worry about that. Then I realized that might be why Jesus brought the soap.
Here you are! Off you go! On to adventure, into the great wide world beyond! Whoops! As soon as you stop by baggage claim. You packed heavy for this trip, remember? I’m guessing the over-sized, 50lb suitcase you dragged with you to check-in seemed like a great idea at the time. Watching it fly by on the carousel with a pile of luggage still attached to your body, it is starting to feel less great. Did I overpack? Wait this isn’t even mine. No, come back! Argh. You wait. You find your bags, you pull them off, and you limp away like a wounded baby elephant until you reach the hotel. The elevator is out of service. “We apologize for the inconvenience.” But your room is still on the third floor, so up you go!When it happens to me I tell myself, Third floor? Up the stairs? No problem. I can do this. I’ve been working out. By step number five I think the walls have started closing in on me like a trash compactor from the Death Star and my suitcase is the Dianoga garbage monster. Here is a tip about carrying baggage: Don’t let it drag you down a flight of stairs.
Most of us probably feel like we carry around baggage. Maybe it’s your chronic illness, or the divorce from a few months back. Maybe its your fear of commitment or your addiction to pornography. Maybe you just feel unlovable, for no reason at all. Maybe you are worried that if people could really see you, they’d want to stop looking. Maybe it feels like if you keep going up that flight of stairs you’ll fall right back down it again.
I get it. I think there are tools God has given us to help us let go of bags we don't need, but it isn’t as easy as leaving behind your brown shoes because you already packed your black ones. Some of us have to pack heavy for while. For me, chronic illness is still a big suitcase. I’ve opened it up, I’ve shown you what’s inside, I’ve let you in on some of my secrets, but every now and then I wish the suitcase was closed. I wish you didn’t know about my baggage. I wish I could leave it rolling around on the carousel pretending it wasn’t mine. But it is mine and I've got to haul it up the stairs. Meanwhile I’m trying to take what’s inside and learn from it while I’ve got it. I guess what surprises me is how often other people need what’s inside my suitcase too. Baggage: everybody has it. Who knew?
I am a passenger on the air transportation system of life. I carry baggage. I get nervous about long layovers and delayed trips. I am sometimes so thrilled by the miracle of flight I forget about the discomfort of turbulence. Sometimes I get free food just for going on the ride! There are great days on the plane and bad days. Sometimes I don't even know where the plane is going. I am a flight risk, but probably one worth taking. I carry baggage. Sometimes it feels like so much baggage I'm hauling the kitchen sink. I used to worry about that. Then I realized that might be why Jesus brought the soap.
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