For Christmas, my husband Tim received several nice sweaters and fleeces but he really has no room to fit these new things in his closet. It really needs to be cleaned out but I’m not touching it. He has some crazy looking sweaters in there that he can’t part with that I’m sure are from the 1980’s. If I pulled them out of the closet and sent them to Goodwill or Red Bird Mission, I would be in trouble. I will leave Fibber McGee’s closet alone for Tim to deal with when he’s ready.
The new year is a good time to sort through the items that we’re not using and give them to someone who needs them. But many of us are hesitant to do so. We think we just might use them someday or we have memories attached to the items that make it difficult to let go. We really need to clean out the clutter but we can’t or more correctly, won’t do it.
There is an art to letting go whether it be an item, an emotion or a bad memory. We often hang on with tight fists even though the weight of them is dragging us down. They are the baggage we carry with us through life. As we grow older, the baggage becomes heavier and unbearable if we won’t set some of it down. The baggage becomes so much a part of us that it is frightening to be without it even when Jesus offers to take it for us. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Most of us are attempting to carry our burdens alone. If you join together with Jesus, as a team yoked together, He carries the greatest part of the burden. Our part becomes much lighter.
Several years ago when I attended my Walk to Emmaus week-end as a “pilgrim”, my table was creating a skit to help describe what the grace of God really means. I was elected to be Jesus in the skit and was garbed in one of our bed sheets as my costume. The others in my group were supposed to give me their baggage. We had our duffle bags labeled with various burdens: Pain, Unforgiveness, Anger, Grief, to name a few. All went well until the last woman would not give me her bag. The skit became too real for her since she carried heavy baggage of shame since she was a child. I said everything I could think of to convince her to give me her bag. We had agreed earlier that as Jesus I could not just take the bag from the others in the skit but they would need to freely give them to me. Finally after what seemed like an eternity up in front of 90 other women on the Walk, she tearfully handed me her bag. It was an emotionally powerful moment and I hope a turning point for her. She had hung on to shame for so long that she defined herself by it. I have not seen her since that week-end came to an end but I pray that she has been able to leave her baggage with Jesus for good.
What clutter do you need to clean out of your closet? What baggage to do you need to hand over to Jesus? As stated in the book of Hebrews, “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” Baggage such as unforgiveness and unresolved anger poisons our souls and sucks the joy right out of our lives. Only by focusing on Jesus and handing over these burdens to Him, can we truly find the peace that transcends all understanding.
