Baggage Allowance
Have you packed for a trip lately? Years ago, when I packed my clothes and belongings for a flight, the items you could bring seemed endless. Two suitcases per person, weighing fifty pounds each, enabled you to pack effortlessly. Typically, this was part of the airline ticket. Today, other than Southwest Airlines, packing your suitcase is way more complicated and costly. Therefore, you must think about what is essential to bring and what you can leave at home!
Today, everything is an added cost to your flight, even choosing your seat and check-in time on some flights. For luggage, the more weight you carry, the more you pay. Knowing the importance of the weight allowance for baggage, we are thankful for the invention of the portable luggage weigher. Today, most budget airlines only permit forty pounds per checked bag, which you pay for, along with charging for your carry-on and every other thing possible!
Preparing for our vacation and being thrifty, we decided to share one suitcase (summer clothes are light!) and bring our backpacks as our personal item, which is free. Each of us put our things in the suitcase the night before we left to do a test run on the suitcase's weight. There is nothing more embarrassing at the airport than having to remove items from your bag due to weight OR, even more frustrating, paying for an overweight bag!
Steve closed the suitcase, attached the luggage weigher, and I stood by as he read the result. Forty-eight pounds – this was not acceptable. We both took out clothes, determining we could do with less and kept this process going until we reached the optimal forty pounds. Arriving at the airport on our day of travel, the check-in attendant let us know that we were "right at the limit" and would need to be careful on the way home so the luggage weight didn't increase. I thought to myself, "no worries, we have the handy dandy luggage weigher with us," to keep us on track.
As I thought about this, I realize that I need a personal "baggage weigher" in my spiritual life. I don't know about you, but life can seem heavy and overwhelming at times for me. The weight of responsibility, the weight of measuring up, the weight of wanting to be the best I can for everyone, and everything weigh me down and cost me emotionally more than I want to pay. Do you ever feel that pressure? I think most of us do! So, what's the solution? Here are a few thoughts that I have been pondering.
God does not want us to have overweight spiritual baggage.
When we feel overwhelmed by life, could it be that we are carrying more than God intended for us to bear? Jesus wants to exchange our burden for His rest. When I take the time to go to Jesus, I realize that he knows how to lighten my load, but the choice is mine to make.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28–30
Our baggage issue is not a surprise to Jesus, He knows us!
“I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:3-4
Jesus wants to use people to help to carry the weight.
We all want to be sufficient in our own strength. While I am excellent at offering YOU help, I am often not good at accepting help myself. When Steve and I were packing our suitcase, I needed him to work with me to achieve the correct balance. Together, with each of us helping lighten the load, we hit the allowed weight much more effortlessly.
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
Pride will keep you from experiencing His best. PRIDE weighs you down!
Has God tried to get your attention, but you are not listening? If we had not taken the time to weigh our luggage privately before we left our house, the airport check-in would publicly be disastrous. In our personal lives, better to humble yourself before God than to be humbled by God.
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6, 7
I am asking Jesus to lighten our load this summer.
I am asking that we receive a fresh revelation of how much He knows us and loves us.
I am asking that we carry other's burdens and allow others to carry our burdens.
Lighten your load with God's help!
Much love, Liz
