My giant carpet bag

About two months ago, I bought a lovely carpet bag. It was just ten dollars at my friend Esther's store. I use it all the time to tote my stuff to and from work. It carries my lunch, my mug, my wallet, my journal, sometimes my Bible, my books, my lip gloss, my pens, my umbrella...I love it!

For some reason, today, my carpet bag reminded me of a few things. I thought about other famous carpet bags - well, famous to me at least because they are in some of my favourite childhood stories. One is Anne's bag in Anne of Green Gables. It's the very bag that Anne latches on to when she first comes to the Island. In it is everything that that little girl had. Everything. Then I thought of the magic carpet bag that Mary Poppins has. The bag that never seemed to have a bottom, the one from which Mary pulls her entire bedroom furnishings. In it, she had everything she needed. Everything.

So, as you can all guess, this carpet bagging (this being meant as a pun rather than the actual traditional meaning for carpetbagging found here) is going to lead to another set of musings by myself. Hope you're ready for it! ;)

It's funny to think about how much I like to put in my purses on a given day. It almost seems like carry about everything I own and I guess it's almost like a security blanket. Hmm. It made me stop today and think about what other baggage I tote around with me. And the truth is, like all of us, I'm carting around emotional baggage. Do I take comfort in that?

My initial response it to dig my heels in and scream "Heck, NO!". Nobody really wants emotional baggage, right? I know I'm sick of lugging around years of hurt and mistrust and shame and (insert adjective here). So then why am I still holding on to this crap?

Well, the truth is, I don't have an answer. I don't think any of us can really be sure why we find ourselves struggling with the past when we are looking towards the future. Maybe it comes down to the whole nature/nuture arguement, I don't know. All I do know is that we are all marred or at least marked in some way because our life experiences.

Maybe we're all viewing life through just too pessimistic a perspective. It's all too easy to remember the tough times, the times you were hurt and the times where you just scraped by. What about all those times when you beat the system? What about the times of pure joy and elation? Don't you think that if we started carrying around these "positivities" that we would find our baggage light and easy to carry?

Hmm, and the Truth (with a capital "T" with rhymes with "G" which stands for God) is that we actually don't have to be burdened at all, because we a free in Him. This is a brilliant thing! Yes, we may always carry with us the lessons learned from the consequences on our actions, but we do not have to be brought down by them. Our sins have been forgiven, and our old selves will fall away in the new being we are in Jesus Christ. (Eph 4:22-24 - Props to Ryan for his comment). There is hope that we will become ever more Christ-like and comfortable enough with ourselves to only carry along the gifts given to us by Jesus, rather than the fleeting aspects this world.

Think about it. It's a glorious thing.

We do not have to sit and contemplate our navels, or beat ourselves up because of stupid actions and so on, because the past is not where we are meant to be living. We are meant to live for something more (well said Switchfoot). There is a whole other force working in us.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So, yeah, I say, "Jesus I'm gonna I put you in my carpet bag and take you with me always because you have everything I need! Everything!" And I'm sure He says "Amen to that!".