Letting Go of Baggage

Psalms 55:22 — Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

I am telling you. I need Jesus and a nap. Probably in that order.

It started in the airport with the smell of burnt coffee drifting from a kiosk, and the fluorescent hum overhead making everyone look tired before we’d even boarded. My gate was a picture of modern travel fatigue: people slumped in chairs, scrolling their phones, and clutching paper cups.

I was supposed to be in Baltic, South Dakota by nightfall. Instead, I got delay after delay. For hours, I just shuffled from one end of the concourse to another, checked my phone, and watched the same janitor push the same mop across the same patch of floor.

By the time the final cancellation came, I had already stopped hoping. I trudged back through the airport disappointed.

But you know what’s coming next, right? My luggage had already made it to South Dakota without me.

I travel a lot, so I have learned to pack light. But that one piece of luggage had my whole life in it (at least everything I think of as essential).

In the days that followed, I realized this debacle of losing my suitcase, in a way, was a good thing. It helped me to remember and reflect on how I carry other kinds of baggage with me everywhere I go. Things like worry, expectation, and stress,

I came home lighter than I’d expected, and it wasn’t because I didn’t have my suitcase. No, it was because I had a bed that smelled like my favorite detergent, pajamas that fit perfectly, and the relief of realizing that life is rarely as heavy as we make it.

Sometimes losing what you thought you couldn’t live without is the exact thing you need to finally run your race well. The weight falls off, and your arms and heart feel free for the first time in years.

So maybe today is a good day to consider what baggage you’ve been dragging around. What might happen if you simply set it aside, give it to God, and walk forward unburdened?