On many Sundays, I remind those with whom I worship that we have all arrived with the bags of our week carried invisibly at our sides. Indeed, we carry the bags of our lives fully packed with us through every moment of every day. It is a helpful metaphor, a useful image for me as I assess the sometimes curious reasons why I do what I do. It is something I tell couples I meet with as we do pre-marriage counseling. They carry with them the bags of the lives they have led up to that point and will carry the contents of those bags into this life they will forge together. It is true, I believe, of all relationships, all friendships. The baggage of our life thus far infuses our work, our play, our understanding of faith, the development of what we might even call our theology.

So, it was with some fascination that I read a prayer today from a little prayer book published by the Iona Community. It was written by Kathy Galloway.

“Oh my Lord,
I am carrying too much luggage,
and it’s weighing me down,
holding me back.
I worry about losing it,
but don’t need much of the stuff I’m dragging about.
It blocks up the aisles and gangways,
getting in the way,
making people cross
and wrapping itself around my ankles.
I need to travel light,
but don’t know what to do with all this stuff.”

Whew! I can certainly relate to those words. Can you? I think of all that is packed in my bags: guilt, old resentments, unfair expectations of myself and others, jealousy, feelings of being wronged or misunderstood, insecurities to beat the band, failures….the list goes on and on.

Of course I also have some very fine stuff packed that I carry with me all the time. The felt experience of unconditional love, the support of community,deep friendships, a sense of humor, the love of beauty,to name only a few. I think of some of those things I am glad I have packed away, things like my father’s gift of loyalty passed on to me through DNA and modeling. I treasure it. And yet I also know that even this precious, positive gift has sometimes kept me blind to important realities, kept me closed to some possibilities.

How we are able to understand the luggage we carry makes a big difference in how we move and have meaning in the world. What we have packed in our bags has the power to move us forward or hold us back. What is packed in your bag? What are you ready to throw out to lighten your way?

These days many Minnesotans are thinking of packing bags to head for warmer places. Sunday’s snowstorm was, for some, the last straw. Even if literal travel is not in your foreseeable future, perhaps today is a day to take stock of what is tucked away in your life’s luggage that no longer serves you. Perhaps today is a day to give it a toss into the circular file. It could be the beginning of traveling lighter and opening to what the hoped for spring will bring.

Kathy Galloway’s prayer ends with these words:

“Here,
you take it.
I’m leaving it with you.
Perhaps you can find a better use for it.
For who knows me better than you,
who has given me the substance of my life,
bone and marrow, patterned in my mother’s womb?
You are my unfolding and my unburdening.
You are the keeper of my deepest secrets.”

For all which we carry with us every day that needs honoring, may we find the grace to do so. For all that needs to be given away or given up, may we have the courage to unloose our grip. All the while knowing the Holy One walks with us in each blessed step.