Checked Baggage

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

     I pray that this letter finds you happy, healthy, and wise.

     Today I want to talk to you about "Checked Baggage".  Last year I had the experience of flying over Christmas.  Never again - not if I can help it.  I had two bags: a big one with all my clothes that I paid $25 each way to check and a smaller one with all my "necessities" that I carried on.

     The plan was to go from Phoenix to Salt Lake City to Kansas City, MO where I would be greeted by my son.  The first leg of the trip went fine.  As we were preparing to land in Salt Lake, they announced that my connecting flight was already boarding in another terminal.  I'd have to hit the ground running.  As I ran from one terminal to the next, the carry-on I was lugging seemed to get heavier and harder to carry with each gate I passed.  I arrived coughing and breathing hard to discover that the flight had been cancelled altogether.  After much doing, I ended up going to Minneapolis, then St. Louis, where my son picked me up instead.

     As I was running for that connecting flight, two thoughts replayed in my mind:  I'm so glad I checked the big bag, and I should've checked this one too.  When I arrived at St. Louis, my big suitcase was there waiting, blissfully unaware of all my drama and trauma.  It was carried safely to my final destination.

     We all have a lot of baggage we carry through this life:  past failures, hurts, disappointments, etc.  We can lug them around with us and allow them to become heavier and harder to handle with each departure from our "plan", or we can check our baggage.  Jesus told us to cast our cares upon Him for He cares for us.  It costs a little more to check the baggage, but oh, the freedom it brings!  We can entrust our cares, hurts and failures to Jesus and go on without them weighing us down all the way to our final destination.

     If I ever fly again, I'll pack the "necessities" in my purse and check all my bags.  Letting someone else carry the load is well worth the price.  Let Jesus carry your baggage, beloved ones.  Life is short - enjoy the trip.

Travelling light, Raelynn