Whether we’re an athlete running a race, a world traveler touring the globe, or simply a human being trekking through life, we each have a choice as to what and how much we are going to carry with us. What are we lugging around? What might be hindering us?
Another way to look at this idea is to consider what is crowding our mental or emotional lives. I am embarrassed to say that, right now, I can’t drive my car into my garage because it is just packed with boxes. No two physical objects can occupy the same space at the same time. This is just basic physics: I have to choose between the boxes or my car.
The apostle Paul, who was once shipwrecked, knew that sometimes the challenges of life require us to throw out or throw off anything that will sink our ship. Acts 27 records how the ship’s crew even threw their tackle and needed supplies overboard in order to survive the violent storm. Choices like these are not easy.
Physical clutter—like a crowded garage—is obvious, but we can mistakenly believe that because mental or emotional clutter is invisible, it doesn’t carry weight. We may keep large cabinets in our minds filled with memories of each grief, sorrow, mistake, missed opportunity, hurt, and injustice from our past.
It’s simply exhausting to live that way—or to try to trek through life carrying too much baggage. Too much crowding in our minds and hearts prevents us from enjoying life, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying the people around us.
We have to ask ourselves some difficult questions. Am I ever going to use the anger, the anxieties, the worries, and the negative thoughts? Are they really necessary? Do I really need to carry all this with me? Can I use this mental and emotional space in a more useful, healthy way?
Traveling light takes courage—and a great deal of faith.
Wilma Derksen is the author of The Way of Letting Go: One Woman’s Walk Toward Forgiveness. You can find her at WilmaDerksen.com or follow her on Facebook.
