My back is hevay with weight. The muscles in my shoulders straining to carry the burden I have chosen to place upon it. Everything I had placed in my luggage had been carefully chosen and the weight was necessary. There were things I had placed in my heart however, that were not selected out of care but out of fear. These things, these burdens were becoming to heavy to bear.
Packing for a journey lasting three months has taught me about necessity; what would be critical to my living and what would only hinder me and slow me down. There's a passage in Isaiah that addresses the the weight of things not of God we carry. "The images they carry around are burdensome, a burden for the weary, they stoop and bow down, unable to rescue the burden they themseles go off into captivity." Isaiah 46: 1-2
During training camp, one of the things that continued to surface was the freedom from captivity we experience in God's love. How we are set free from our prisone of shame, guilt and fear. This freedom that rescues us from our burdens will allow us to travel great distances, across tough terrain and where God has called our hearts because we no longer carry unnecessary weight. We will travel with burdenless backs and hearts overflowing with God's love.
Heading to the airport tomorrow with my bags packed for the adventure ahead, I can't help but think of all the burdens I have laid down this week and smile at the lighter load of love and freedom I now carry.
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:18-19
