Heavy Baggage

Have you ever taken a flight into or out of O'hare, Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix or Los Angeles?  I have, and I believe they call them terminals to remind us that by the time we make our way around the labyrinth of hallways and concourses we will feel terminally tired from carrying our suitcases all that way.  Taking a trip reminds us that our baggage can weigh us down.

In life we carry baggage, and I'm no exception.  Case in point....many years ago a friend of mine who had made a life changing decision because of some things I shared with him moved out of state.  Prior to moving he had accepted Christ and we enjoyed months of good fellowship.  After he moved, we never saw each other again.

But every Christmas, without fail, I would get a Christmas card from him and it usually had a note in it.  And here is where it gets cheesy.  As the years passed, I stopped acknowledging the cards and notes.  In my twisted mind I figured that where he was at was a place I'd never forseeably be, and that the past was the past and that was it.  And this process was all about my convenience, not about his feelings.  Pretty doggone sad, and very, very small of me.

This Christmas, as always, I got a Christmas card from him, and the usual note.  And because God, with His undaunting patience and unlimited grace, has worked me over significantly the past year, I was moved to read Terrill's card and note....and more importantly, respond to it.  On reading the note I came to realize just how much Terrill valued the change in his life since the days of our earlier conversations, and what being saved meant to him.  He had survived, over the years, 5 brain operations, and he placed the successes of those surgeries squarely in God's hands.  And he has spent all of those years simply trying to thank me for that tremendous inner peace he had found because of our conversations.

As I mentioned above, this time I responded to him.  I felt very moved to simply confess to him that I had been so wrong in walking from the long distance relationship and to ask his forgiveness for my boorishness.  I got a letter back from my response, and as friends we are well once again.

The point of this is a learning one.  I was carrying baggage.  I was aware that each year he was reaching out, and I was ignoring it.  I was aware that he did not want distance to kill the friendship.  And I was aware that what I was doing was not only killing it, but it was wrong.  And it turned out to be heavy baggage that I was carrying around.  Now I am no longer carrying that baggage, and my load is lighter.  Getting rid of the baggage the right way was not easy, but it sure made the load lighter.

How much unwanted baggage are we as individuals carrying around with us each and every day, and how much is that baggage weighing us down?  That begs the question:

What can I do to get rid of unecessary and unwanted baggage in my life?