Skip to main content

You Cannot Carry Everything

 


                Recently, I read about a man who decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail.  To prepare for this 2610-mile journey from Georgia to Maine, he gathered everything that he thought he would need.  His backpack bulged with an audio player for bird calls, a camera, an alarm clock, a radio, and much more.  He was prepared for anything.

                At his first stop, an experienced hiker pulled him aside and suggested that he might be overloaded.  To help him out, the experienced hiker took everything out of the backpack, held each item up, and asked, “Is this worth it? Do you want to carry this for the next 2,000 miles?"  No item, in and of itself, was that heavy.  However, the combined weight and the distance that it had to be hauled, would have made the entire trek a struggle and maybe impossible to complete.  In the end, the man sent home 26 pounds of unnecessary gear.

                As I thought about that incident, I realized that “Is it worth it?  Do you want to keep carrying this?” is a great question for life.

                Too often, we end up carrying things that weigh us down and make life miserable.  Thoughts of anger, fear, guilt, worry, or regret cause us to re-live painful incidents from the past, or imagine some catastrophe in the future.  Eventually, the weight of those emotions becomes too much, and we end up losing hope and joy. We must guard our thinking.  As Psalm 14:30 reminds us, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones”. 

                What do you need to put down?  What do you need to stop dwelling on?  What are you thinking about or imagining that is not serving you well?

                I know that life is not easy.  Sometimes we cause our own trouble and other times we get caught in the wake of the bad decisions that others have made.  However, we always get to choose how we see our circumstances.  We can decide to focus on freedom and happiness.

                In fact, that is God’s offer to everyone.

                As Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more