Wednesday, November 14, 2007

What's In Your Backpack?

What's in your backpack?
Have you every gone on a women's weekend retreat and noticed the luggage women bring? It's very interesting and even funny to watch. The bags range from many pieces to just one small case....and of course a purse. Some women bring four pieces of luggage and clothing on hangers...all for one weekend! But one thing is for certain...every one arrives with baggage.
The new thing today is backpacks. Department stores have some back packs that are made to be "purses." Kids use back packs for their school books. Some people carry their lap top computers in them. There are even people who use them for what they were originally designed for...hiking! Well... I would like to write about a different kind of backpack, the one that each of us carries on our backs. Ones we don't see with our eyes...and are called our "burdens."
What do you have in your backpack? The proverbial to do list? Books to read, Bible studies, ministry work, expectations, worries, past mistakes, present hurts, present trials? How much "stuff" - good or bad - do you shove in your pack back? Funny...when it's full we don't "un-burden" ourselves; we get a bigger bag or just add another.
Why are we so unwilling to part with our bags and our "stuff?" We think "well it may be overwhelming...but it's mine...If I don't do this stuff no one else will." Others may see us hunched over or dragging but still we say, "Oh I'm fine...I can handle it."
There are serious consequences to our physical, mental, and spiritual well being if we hang on to all this "stuff." It can't help but affect our relationships with our families, our jobs, our ministries. It isn't supposed to be this way. There is an answer and we find it in Matthew 11:28-30.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
There it is from the words of our Savior Jesus...He does a bag exchange! Jesus offers us a solution to our back and neck pain, to our tired bodies and it isn't a tube of Ben Gay! He offers himself. But is it just as easy as that?
Stay tuned for Part 2
Mary Ann

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