What’s in Your Bag?
I remember being a pre-teen, carrying a heavy JanSport book bag full of books and other miscellaneous items even though I really only needed about 2 books. I would walk around looking downtrodden because my bag was too heavy for my small frame. I was carrying around things that served no purpose but I was so used to having them, that I became used to the weight. Instead of removing the things I didn’t need, I kept them and made my body adjust to the extra weight. Even though they were causing me discomfort and restricting the way I journeyed to and from home, the things in my bag gave me a sense of comfort— in a weird way, they made me feel secure.
Growing up I learned to be protective of myself because of my trauma, insecurities, and past experiences. I kept a hard exterior to protect myself from what I perceived to be inauthentic people. I was afraid of trusting because I wasn’t sure who to trust. So instead of dealing with the root of my trust issues-- I decided that to earn my trust, people would have to get through all of the barriers that I put up. I thought this was protecting me but what it actually did was make me feel a burden that I could never get free of. Trying to protect myself kept me in a cage that restricted me from getting close to people in the way that I yearned to. Soon I realized that while trying to avoid inauthenticity in others, I created it within myself. When you are afraid of being vulnerable, you end up being inauthentic because you’re not allowing your spirit to lead you. We are beings that require our mind, body, soul, and spirit to work in tandem. If we leave one out of the picture, we are no longer bringing our whole selves to the forefront. Not only are you coming across as disingenuous, but now you feel disjointed because you feel that something is off within you. You feel chaos instead of peace.
We all have baggage. Whether we realize it or not, we are all carrying things from our past that have become extensions of who we are. In our spiritual bags, we carry around our past experiences, pain, trauma, insecurities, disappointments, and deferred dreams. Trying to avoid more pain, we choose to keep our baggage with us instead of lightening the load to relieve our bodies of unnecessary weight. Not all things in our bags are bad—some of our experiences can serve as textbooks of life, filled with wisdom that can help us along our journeys. The key is in identifying the items in our bags that are necessary on our journeys and the items that are causing us to feel burdened and heavy. We have to discern when our baggage is preventing us from moving forward at a steady pace. Having to slow down and take breaks because of the heaviness of our bags is not how God intended us to walk through life. We should take heed to the story of Lot’s wife—she looked back and became a pillar of salt, preserved in her current state—no longer able to ever move forward into the new thing that God wanted to do in her life.
Releasing the things from your past that no longer serve where you are going is necessary. It allows you to make space so that you can heal and receive love, peace, and joy. If you are like me, afraid to let go of your old baggage because you believe that they are helpful or even comforting, I encourage you to give them over to God. In Matthew 11:19, Jesus says
Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.
God promised that He would alleviate the weariness and heaviness we feel from carrying our painful experiences on our backs. He has promised us rest and restoration as long as we go to Him. You no longer need to carry your load by yourself because He can withstand anything that you can think of. He died so you could live abundantly. Don’t let his death be in vain. Give your baggage to Him, so that you can soar. I promise it’ll be worth it.
