Baggage

Days spent grabbling over box after box of stuff got before I moved here to work for my present employer. These many boxes of belongings were accumulated over many years. Most are no longer of much use to me. Taking advantage of the occasion, I went over each item in each of these boxes, classified the contents into one of the three categories: keep, trash, donate. And I came up with five boxes and two garbage bags of stuff to donate, and a lot of papers/printed materials to recycle, but there were not a whole lot to keep. Regardless, there were many valuable gifts that I may not have much use of, but too nice to give away. Therefore I know I don't love others as much as myself. Really, the selection process was pretty much based on the egocentric question, "do I like/need/want to keep it?" I didn't really try to give away only 2nd grade items. But it was predictable with the kind of mindset I bore and evident in the items to donate.

Many times we encountered something we liked, we wanted to bring it into our possession. We have brought with us many baggages when we walk down the path of our lives. we dragged these possessions along with us. They were pleasant to our eyes that day, and our feelings have been attached to them for one month or even a few year. Nonetheless, they put their weight on us wherever we went. We kept going and collected more memories in form of belongings. Sooner or later, they got turned into baggage on our shoulders. The more beautiful they appear, the more memorable they are, the harder it is to leave them. Who doesn't treasure the memorable past? So we keep carrying these baggages with our hands, arms, shoulders, until they become too heavy to be lifted. We would still drag them along with us until we couldn't move.

We typically fall into liking before we love. Often we want to hold onto things we like. There are things so nice that we try to keep them with us. We may show our love towards what we like for the wrong reason--i.e. to possess. When we worry about pursuing these beautiful things in life, we may get obsessed with ourselves, crunching our thirst for love. Little do we care about how we respond to all the goodness we receive, until the day we find that these good things in our lives have come to pass. We realize we are just selffish selffish beings.

God Himself sacrificed His begotten son, Jesus Christ, before we have got to know Him. He has loved us even when we weren't likeable, when we weren't lovable. Those who believe in Him can look upon Him for a new life. In this life, we no longer need to be driven by our desire to possess. He showed us how to truly love, so we may love for real. In Him, it is no longer about our desire, our wants, or even our pasts. It's time for us to turn a new leaf. Matthew 11:28 says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We can finally let go of our baggages, those which were once pretty, those which were once sweet, those which were once so treasured by us. It's because He has already taught us how to love and let go, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Together in Him, there lies a bright and everlasting future ahead of us.