Baggage Check

 

As American missionaries living in East Africa, my husband and I do a lot of traveling and there is one thing I can tell you... I know baggage! I’m not talking about the luggage that carries the baggage... I’m talking about the stuff in the luggage that we carry as baggage. Know what I mean?

Through my experience of carrying all that luggage, loaded with baggage, to and through the airports of the world (well, at least some of them)... organizing it onto the trolley carts, lifting it onto the conveyor belts, having it x-rayed and screened, lugging it over to the check-in desk for weigh-in, then being told one piece is too heavy and enduring the embarrassing moment of shuffling my personal baggage around to get the luggage in compliance with the weight limit for each individual piece... whew... I can tell you, I know baggage. Maybe it was the pulled muscles from all that lifting, or maybe it was having my private stuff on public display, but something forced me to take another look at what I was lugging around in all those bags and a serious re-evaluation process had to be conducted before I ruptured a spleen, or something else.

Now there is a spiritual side to all this talk about luggage and baggage... I’ve discovered that I do the same sort of thing with emotional baggage I’m lugging around. And, just like I needed to re-evaluate the luggage I was carrying from airport to airport, I also need to re-evaluate the emotional baggage I was carrying from relationship to relationship. To start off with... I carry way too much... I need to stop being so critical and hyper-sensitive, making one relationship own-up for the failures of another. Know what I mean?

I pack my own luggage... I decide what stuff gets lugged around on our trips together. So, when the load gets too tiresome and encumbering to bear, I’ve got no one to blame but myself. In comparison, I also pack my own emotional baggage. So, what I carry around emotionally has nothing to do with anybody else, but me. After all, I’m the one who decides what goes into those bags, nobody else does that for me. Sure, it’s easy to say I was hurt by a particular person but when it comes to packing my emotional baggage, it’s totally up to me what I carry. I decide what gets packed, I decide what gets lugged around and I’ve got no one to blame but myself for the encumbering emotional burden that I bear. Nobody else is suffering because of my luggage... I mean, they’re not lugging it around, I am. Emotional baggage is all about me... myself... I packed the bags, I decided what was to be kept and what was to be left behind.

The purging process isn’t easy but it is necessary. Letting it go and getting over it is easier said then done, but it’s do-able. We really are able to let things go... we really can get over it. I remember what it was like to fly before 9-11 changed the world. Airline passengers could walk to their departure gate without going through a security check and friends and family could accompany them to wish them a farewell. Then, when the world changed, security restrictions imposed on passengers became a nightmare. I’m convinced that one of these days, we’ll be issued disposable clothing to wear during our flight and personal items will have to be purchased upon arrival at our destination. I really am joking about that, but on a serious note, whatever the restrictions were, we adjusted, and whatever the restrictions will be, we will adjust. Actually, it was the restrictions the airlines imposed on it’s passengers that created this thought of what was really necessary in my emotional baggage as well. If I can physically adjust, I can emotional adjust, too. It’s do-able. Know what I mean?

Four Types of “Fruity” Christians

Are you sometimes a banana-skinned Christian, easily bruised, allowing the things others say and do to easily offend you? Or maybe you’re sometimes like another type of fruit...
I’ve learned that when I start to let my emotions get the best of me, it’s evidence of my lack of how near I have drawn myself to God.“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you...” James 4:8

1.) Thin skinned / soft fruit - such as - Grapes, Kiwi, Peaches, Plums.

These fruits are usually expensive because they take so much special care. They can be damaged so easily. Their skin is thin and it doesn’t protect the soft fruit from damage, it's only enough to keep the fruit from getting dirty.

*These Christians are high-maintenance people and they are offended often and easily. You have to watch what you say around them because they are so sensitive, it's like walking on egg shells. They are the type of Christian who struggles with being faithful to church because they are somewhere else nursing another emotional injury waiting for someone to “pet” on them.


2.) Thin skinned / hard fruit - such as - Apples.

The appearance of this fruit can be deceiving because this fruit often rots from the inside out. It also bruises easily.

*This Christian has become emotionally hard in order to protect themselves. But all the while, they are rotting away on the inside from all the bitterness they are harboring. They are not joyful Christians, their pleasure is in the calamities of others.


3.) Thick skinned / soft fruit - such as - Bananas, Oranges, Grapefruits.

The skin of these fruits seem to be able to hold up to normal bumping around, but it’s not until you open them up that you find the fruit inside has been bruised.

*These Christians are easily crossed or offended but will usually keep quiet until they find their moment to lash out, and, like their fruit counterpart, they can be very acidic with others - hurting others because they have been hurt. They also like to gossip.


4.) Tough skinned / soft fruit - such as - Passion Fruit.

The skin of this fruit is almost like a shell protecting the delicate fruit inside. This fruit does not have to be handled cautiously, it can take some stress while the inside fruit is still soft, almost liquidity, and delicious.

*This is the type of Christian we need to be. Strong enough on the outside to take the offenses of this world, while still tender enough on the inside to have compassion for others.

A reflection of our quiet-time with God is revealed through how we deal with offences.
“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Psalms 119:165.
“My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” - Proverbs 3:1, 2.

By Jane M. Coley

Bible Study Time / Reading Time ~ A Need for Both

In April (2011) I finished my 8^th time reading completely through the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments of the Authorized King James Version) and started my 9^th time through in May. These were eight purposely recorded times, so I’m not just guessing that I’ve read the Bible enough to call it eight times through, I actually did.

I don’t say that to be bragging, to be honest, I’ve been saved more than 40 years and I should be able to say I’ve completely read through the entire Bible more than that. So, this post is not about bragging, it’s about encouraging one another.

If you’re like me, you study your Bible often because you have a Sunday School lesson to prepare for, or you have a devotion to give at a Ladies Fellowship, or somebody asked you a Bible question that you’re seeking an answer for, but I often used my Bible study time to count as my Bible reading time, after all, it’s pretty much the same thing... right? And that’s the mistake I think too many Christians make.

Bible study time is not the same as Bible reading time... yes, you have to read to study... but when you study, your mind is focused on one particular topic, unlike when you read and your mind is open to different topics and thoughts. We need to do both, read and study the Bible. There have been many times that the passages of scripture I was reading for the day, were just what I needed for the topic of study I was preparing for, and it could have been missed if I was studying without reading.

I hope you have been encouraged... but I really hope you have been challenged by this posted.

God bless.