Bags

Year 7-Day 101: Today, I am grateful for bags.

What would I do without bags? I am a bit of a "bag lady" with far more than I need, but they help me organize my life. 

For a season in life, I worked two part-time jobs with one day off a week. Actually, it was the perfect schedule and job/life balance. I had different bags for different work destinations... and different bags for my sons... depending on their destination of day care or "Aunt Jill's". For everything a bag... and a bag for everything.  

The Love of My Life graciously tolerates my collection and shakes his head. My bags are one of those things that are important to me, so he accepts them and helps me find ways to store them. (Love you, honey!) I stink at traveling light!

Jesus reminded his disciples that trust and traveling light is way to follow Him. Yikes!

Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?”
“No,” they replied.
 “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.” -Luke 22:35-37

There is an urgency in this passage. It reminds us that God will provide our needs. The Good News of Jesus doesn't require luggage and luggage can weigh us down. Necessities are not the luxuries... it is hard to leave the luxuries behind, but it is freeing. Trusting Jesus for our daily bread... our every need... we learn to live fully in the joy of our salvation. The heaviest burden is the weight of the Good News that the world longs to hear. Hope has a name: Jesus. 

"Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."-Luke 9:23-24

I am prone to overpacking for any journey. Do I remember the importance of taking up my cross?

In choosing simple, there is freedom. In trusting God to provide all of our needs, there is joy. In fellowshiping and sharing hospitality... needs disappear in the light and warmth of community. Love Him. Love people. Share the Good News.

I love my bags... but I can choose the joy in traveling light. 

Today, I am grateful for bags.