Excess Baggage
What does it mean to have excess baggage? I think each person has their own version of what excess baggage is to them and what it may look like. I discovered in these last two weeks what excess baggage means to me both physically and spiritually. On June 13th when I posted on my Facebook page that I was taking a break for that week due some rearranging and shuffling needed to be done by the weekend, I meant that. I thought it would take only a week. Here I am two weeks later finally able to scribble out a quick blog.
My husband and I worked hard at completely emptying out one of our guest rooms for another use. It normally wouldn’t have been much of a challenge, however we had a deadline. Then that deadline got moved up a week earlier than planned. We shuffled some belongings and items to the other guestroom and the livingroom and then packed up the remaining to tote off to storage. That sounds simple enough, right? Wrong!
There was a point when we had to almost empty the second guest room out to rearrange for the bed from the other room to go into this guest room. I had a buyer for the newer bed and nowhere to store it to keep it pristine. With the arrangements of the bed I wanted to keep, we put the other one on top of it, it’s kind of comical looking really and will be until it’s picked up.
While pulling everything out of the guest rooms and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, that spilt over to my closet, to my dresser, the bookcase out in the livingroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom. There were piles all through the hallway, the now one guestroom, the floor and bed in my room, the livingroom and the countertops in the kitchen. I made the comment, “Oh my gosh, I’m a hoarder – just organized!”
That statement kind of slapped me upside the head! The last thing I’d ever consider myself as is a hoarder. Have you seen those shows that have brought attention to this disorder?? They’re unbelievable to watch what’s found throughout their homes!!
In my own eyes my house doesn’t look this way in the open, it’s all tucked away neatly organized in the closets. But I kept piling up stuff and wondering where all of it came from?? Items or clothing that I’d wear again someday. Books that I’d never read again, but didn’t want to toss out. My beloved kitchen items that were a must have at one time and now tucked away in the back corners of my cabinets. Jewelry that’s accumulated over the years that matched an outfit and now that outfit is no longer in my wardrobe. Boxes and boxes of stuff packed up for the yard sale and somethings that will stay in storage for a short while.
“Oh my gosh, I’m a hoarder – just organized!”
Darleen Hammer
My heart sank as I took all this in. Waste. Such waste. Such excess waste. It all had been neatly packed away in each of the respective rooms from which it came. No one would’ve ever known any of that was there. Excess baggage. Why do I feel the need to hang on to it? Why do I feel the desire to keep it knowing full well I won’t use it again? Is it that “maybe one day” thought? One day and someday don’t ever come around, they just are not found on the calendar, ever.
I can relate this to my spiritual life as well. All the excess baggage I’ve tucked away into the corners of my heart and soul. The excess baggage that takes up space and has become useless, yet hinders me from becoming my full potential. It’s hidden and tucked away and forgotten about until something comes along and I’ve got to rearrange or shuffle things that force me to bring it all out in the open, to sort through and work through. Instead of boxing it away, I can lay this at the feet of Jesus for him to take from me. He can clean out those corners of my heart and soul that have become stagnant and useless and take up space. He can remove my excess baggage and give me a clean heart that’s fresh, that’s renewed and all the better to serve Him.