Backpacking with baggage; backpacking in freedom…

According to Dictionary.com, the word baggage may be defined as things that encumber one's freedom, progress, development, or adaptability; impediments. To some extent, we all have baggage. This is so true, so prevalent that there is even a dating show built on this premise. The question there becomes how much baggage we can accept from each other. Certainly, there are deal breakers in relationships as there should be. I know for me, insincerity is definitely one. I am thankful for the realness in those I love. Sometimes, keeping it real is difficult and at times painful. However, I can’t imagine being able to place any trust in someone I doubted. I place a high value on honesty even when I may not necessarily like it.

In a previous post, “Rearview Mirrors”, I broached the subject of the kind of baggage that is unspeakable. Most times, I keep it that way but occasionally, I over share. It happens suddenly and before I catch myself. It’s typically awkward and uncomfortable. For a moment, I go back to that place that is shameful and makes me feel insecure of those around me and of myself. Then I am drawn back into reality. I am brought back to the lie that, to paraphrase Jon Acuff, “if people really knew you, they wouldn't love you. The truth is if people really knew you, they could really love you." That in turn reminds me of the beauty of sharing each other’s burdens. As an example, Jesus not only shared in the shame, in the unspeakable, but also chose to carry the burden for us, for me. He provides the way so that we are in fact no longer encumbered or weighed down.

One of my favorite paperbacks on this subject is called “Weight on the Lord” and despite its play on words, it’s not about weight loss which is a good thing because I typically visualize Jesus with an eight pack. He was, after all a hard working carpenter. On the front cover, Jesus is backpacking with a man. Jesus is the one carrying the backpack. Along with the book, a good representation of this is the song “Traveling Light” by Joel Hanson.

As a fan of backpacking, I would like to affirm that the journey is so much sweeter when someone that loves you takes the trek with you and accepts your baggage as theirs. I’ve learned that in order to truly be loved, you have to let yourself be known and backpack together unashamedly and in sincere and reckless abandon. Along the way, some rain must fall but it doesn’t make the trip any less lovely. There are discoveries along the way when you give yourself away that make it all worthwhile.