If you were going on a long trip, which would you find easier to pack: one duffle bag or two large suitcases?
As I prepare for a five-week trip overseas, I'm finding the two-suitcase option much more difficult. It's as if the floodgate of choices have been open to me, and I'm drowning. What if . . . ? and Wouldn't it be nice . . . ? my gluttinous luggage lures as I toss in clothing I'm sure I will never use, never even wore at home!
Several years ago my husband and traveled all over Italy via motorbike, and we only had one motorcycle case in which to pack our belongings. I took the necessities: my Bible, a few pieces of underwear, a couple tops, pajamas, a pair of non-wrinkle slacks, and a pair of flip-flops. I carried our few toiletries in a knapsack on my back. It was fun and liberating to travel that way.
Sometimes I wonder if with all the choices available today, we are really better off. It seems to me only the amount of bad choices we could make have increased. Take for example the area of food. The supermarkets in Greece are growing in the variety of products they offer, but they're still not nearly as bountiful as the ones in the United States. I know what will happen when I get to the U.S. I'll go grocery shopping and spend hours gazing at shelves loaded with an infinite variety of breakfast foods, snack foods, sweets, etc. I will want to take advantage of all the goodies I can't buy in Greece. And then I'll realize that most of it isn't healthy for me.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:25: ". . . take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?"
The answer is yes. The body does not need any more today than it did thousands of years ago. And it still perishes. What counts is "the meat that endures to everlasting life" (John 6:27)--the choices I make regarding my Savior.
I am thankful for all the things I have--that my needs are met, and my many wants too. But, as the believers in prison here constantly remind me, material possessions are worthless compared to the riches we have in Christ. Christ is like a Mary Poppin's carpet bag of endless provision.
I'm looking to pare down my stuff, lighten my baggage for living. Until I do, (sigh) I have to pack shoes for all these outfits.
1 comment:
Great post! I like the "Christ is a Mary Poppins bag of provision" comment. Everything we need is found in who He is. He even provides us with things we didn't know we needed. Wouldn't it be great if we could always remember to go to Him instead of reaching into our own useless bags to meet our needs- spiritual and otherwise?
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