Your Personal Baggage

It is so simple to say, but often hard to recognize.

We all have baggage! You have baggage. I have baggage. All God’s children have baggage!

Not just a single piece, but stacks and stacks, and mounds of baggage. Each piece comes in a multitude of sizes, shapes, and weights. Some are easily identifiable. Others are not. Some are visible and overwhelming, while others are hidden, some manageable, some not. You even make sure some of them are totable, and others don’t even have a good handle to pick them up!

It is even safe to say ….
You have luggage that is enjoyable!

Regardless of how you think about it – the real key is how capable are you in handling the baggage of your life? Is it an overwhelming task or manageable? Do you find that you are depressed when thinking about them, or do you see the potential in handling the huge task? Can you find the good, or does it all look jumbled and frightening?

The picture for this blog post is from the Sacramento Airport. It’s “art” for the baggage claim area, but it really says a lot.

Now. Before you bail out, jump ship, ride off into the sunset, let’s think about the baggage from a categorical viewpoint.

Categories of Baggage

So. How do you categorize your personal baggage? Some of it is identified as “he’s not heavy, he’s my brother…” and we tote it because we care. Other pieces are not identified and it’s simply there unnoticed, but still a burden. Still. We often choose to carry our baggage because we see no way out.

Here are some beginning categories to lump your luggage into.

• People vs things vs situations
• Attitudes and Altitudes (One is how I think, and the other is where am I on the totem pole of life)
• Legacy, history, and heritage, cultural – the way it was, is and what it may be like tomorrow.
• Family… Need I say more?
• Self-limiting factors such as thinking you are incapable
• Career vs job vs where am I going?
• Unorganized rooms of life – bills, closets, garages…
• Time – not enough of it and not managing what you have available to you

If I keep analyzing it then I will get depressed thinking about all the baggage I’m carrying! It is true there is some baggage that never truly goes away, but any of it could be better controlled.

The Baggage We Care For

Think with me about Job. In just one day of a life well lived, he listens as reporter, one often the other, comes to him with calamitous news. In one single day he essentially loses everything he had worked hard to build. His entire wealth picture came crashing down. Four reporters. Four horrible pictures of his loss.

“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”  
Job 1:20-22 (KJV)

In the greatest loss any of us can imagine, notice something. Job prepared himself to Worship. He tore that mantle of leadership, position and protection. He shaved his head to show he was capable of going as far as it would take. Then he fell to the ground. And worshipped.

No lament. No accusation, nor self-pity. He worshipped God.

Perhaps this is a better way of reacting than most of us know how to do. We throw our hands up in despair, ranting and raving about how life has dealt us a harsh blow.

How Do You React?

We were driving home from Texas, March, 2020.
COVID-19 was just starting to scare everyone.
We still had a couple of weeks of travel planned.
But we headed home.
Hotels shut down. Restaurants shuttered.
Gas stations still open.
How do you respond?

Was this how we wanted our trip to end? No! Did we want to cut the time short? Nope! But we knew we must make a quick trip of it if we wanted to make it home safely.

Back up to Job for a moment. When his life was unraveling, how did he react? Notice something. Job describes how he came into life without anything, and will return to death with nothing remaining. This is how we often paint the picture of life when suffereing great loss. I brought nothing. I’m taking nothing.

Yet. Our baggage of life is more than that which we produce, it’s equally part of what we come to the table with. Think with me about it like this. Some baggage we create, while some is given over to us. There are things we produce, and things we unload. Equally, there are things we pick up, and set down.

Sounds like Solomon in his “to everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)!

Today. I want to identify what’s necessary, and unload the remainder.

Starting Points

If we are susceptible to our baggage loads, then what do we do about it? Can we do anything? Where do we start? Do we act like a victim, or can we be the victor?

There is a way to remove the clutter of your life, toss the excess baggage, and get your life back under control.

Each of these points are deep thoughts worthy of greater focus than a list. That’s where you come in. It’s your job to expand this list to fit your world.

This is simply a starting point.

• Know where you are going. This should be easy, but not knowing the future landscape it’s often difficult to define. (I’m bound for the promised land…)
• Write your vision down. (Habakkuk 2:2)
  • When you study scripture, always put it into context…even when it is a great standalone statement.
• Layout a road map – and remember, there will be challenges ahead that will produce detours, delays and disappointments.
  • Observe obstacles as opportunities to re-tool or re-prioritize.
• Identify what’s necessary, and carry only what you need!
• Set priorities, schedules, and calendar your future!
  • As we used to say in flying, “Plan your flight and fly your plan…”
• Keep your nose to the grindstone – manage distractions.
• Celebrate your wins in a visible way.
• Mop up your losses and start again.
• Find an accountability partner, coach or mentor

Regardless of how you want to think about it, there is a way to handle this baggage. Successfully!

An author I was reading recently described there are some things that are the “…background of your life” – some things will go away easily, others will not, but all make up your background. Your background may define how you are, but you do not have to let it define your future!

Writing About It Again…

It is said that you are very conversant about the things you know a lot about. Mention a phrase around some people, and their eyes start dancing with the light of knowledge. Almost, like a kid, their feet become antsy and they can hardly wait to share, dancing from one foot to the next. Skipping in place, comes to mind.

So. For me to share this from a different perspective must mean I’m well versed for this topic

I am.

I have much baggage and it shuffles from shelf, to corner, to drawer and finally onto the work surface to be handled. Yet, this is not a simple thought. You will not make immediate changes and find total success…

But, to get anywhere you must first start somewhere.

Let me sum it up.

• You choose how much you will carry…
• God does not overload you! Scripture says He will not give us more than we can handle…(1 Corinthians 10:13)
• So, if your load is too heavy, then you have chosen to carry too much…

Take Charge! It’s your load! What gets handled first? That’s your call. It’s your priority of the moment. You get to choose!