Baggage Claim.

Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, because he tenderly cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 TPT

I really like going on holiday. No i'll say that differently, I really like BEING on holiday. I don’t like booking flights, (I do love choosing a hotel), I don’t like packing, I don’t like organising airport travel and parking, I don’t like the pressure of keeping my passport and boarding pass safe. It’s far too much pressure for me, I just want to be in the sun, reading a book, drinking something delicious. I want no parts in the rest of it. I will do it all, because being on holiday is worth it to me, however the grace of God abounds still because he sent me the king of organising holidays, my husband. He knows where to find the best deals, the best car rental companies, red flags in reviews, travel insurance, exchange rates and to top it all off he is VERY responsible with passports and boarding passes. The best part? He absolutely loves it, he takes great joy in planning our trips and I take great joy in letting him (I think he gets this ability from his dad but he will never admit it, my father In law is the sensei of organising holidays). My favourite thing my husband does in regards to holidays is definitely luggage labels, I have a picture from the day after we got married of him sat on the sofa in our new home doing luggage labels for our honeymoon, he was in his element.

However, hands down the most stressful part of travelling (aside from packing and not losing my passport) is luggage, and how it gets from home to our destination. One thing to note about me is that I really like my clothes and I really like my belongings, so what you are asking me to do is walk my belongings up to a desk, hand all of it to a complete stranger to put on a conveyor belt and take it somewhere that only people who work there would know, get on a plane, fly across the world, and expect it to be there on another conveyor belt when I get there? Excuse me? Give me a break. Call me materialistic but this is truly stress inducing! I much prefer the arrangement with hand luggage, I know where it is always, it stays right with me, why can’t we make arrangements for that? Don’t you guys worry what condition your luggage is going to be in when you get it back? Or am I the only one with airport trust issues? How do I know they are going to look after my baggage, the load of things that I care so much about I decided to take them over the seas with me? I guess I just have to trust the service I paid for! And when I reach my destination, ready to relax, I just have to trust that my baggage will meet me there, as I left it, only I didn’t have to worry about its weight on the journey.

Some of you reading this may have already grasped what I could be alluding to. Today I’m talking about baggage, in literally every sense of the word. Whatever it is that we carry along with us day today, that makes us heavier than we were supposed to be. Unfortunately, this side of heaven there is no listing the number of things that can become baggage in our lives, some have more than others, some baggage is heavier than other baggage. Have you ever seen a parent on the school run before? Someone carrying coats, lunchboxes, scooters and book bags while trying to get their kids to school on time and in one piece? Then have you ever seen that parent at the end of the day at pickup? Walking into the school with maybe only a scooter in tow? No? I’m not surprised because I can guarantee you that parent is visually a different person. When we are weighed down emotionally, with sadness, worry, anxiety and whatever else we can carry, we don’t look the same, we don’t feel the same and we don’t see life the same. That just isn’t what God wants for us.

Today's scripture is an absolute beauty Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, because he tenderly cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 TPT. God literally wants us to gather up everything in our life that is weighing us down and pour it onto him. The word pour makes me think it doesn’t have to be tidy, you don’t have to file, organise, or even particularly understand your worries, but he will take them, however they come. Kids make me laugh because they understand this perfectly. They will bring everything they own with them to the park, but will they carry any of it? Not on your life. ‘hold my jacket, hold my train, do you have my football? Where is my game? What time is lunch? Can I have my drink now? I need a tissue!’ you become a walking baggage claim when you are out with a child and why? Why do they do this? Why do they bring every toy they own to the park without a thought on how they will carry it all? Because they know you can. That child gave you everything that would possibly weigh them down so they could enjoy the park with complete freedom, not one thing weighing them down. They know your arms are strong enough to hold it all, and better than that, they trust you with it. I am convinced beyond doubt that that is exactly the view our heavenly father has of us and our baggage. Other translations literally say ‘CAST your burdens onto him’ that sounds like Christian Jargon until you understand what CAST means. If you don’t, go on YouTube right now and search for a rural fisherman casting his net over his boat to catch fish. The imagery of this verse would have wanted us to throw our baggage as far as our arms would carry it onto God, he wants us to absolutely launch our baggage onto him. And he gives us the reason why, its literally because he cares so deeply about us. His arms are strong enough to hold whatever we throw, and we can trust him with it. All of it.

Okay, you’re probably wondering when I am going to get to the hard part, when I’m going to tell you what the catch is, because up until now I have made it all sound super easy, but if you notice the scripture has two instructions. Pour out your worries (right, done that) now leave them there. Once you have poured them out, once you have given them to God, leave them right there. Do not go back and pick them up. Don’t go and check how they are doing, don’t grow impatient with how long it is taking, pour out your worries, and leave them there. Can you imagine how ridiculous a long haul flight would be if everyone or if even one person in the airplane got up multiple times during the flight demanding to go to where the baggage is stored mid flight to check all the luggage was still there? It wouldn’t happen, and nobody would get anywhere, the same way you trust what you paid For the airline to look after your bags, is the same way you have to trust what HE paid for YOU to look after your bags. He’s got them, nice and safe. I’m not being trivial; I know that the things I’m asking you to pour out to God are incredibly valuable. Could be financial troubles, marriage woes, an addiction, worried about the future of your children, or maybe even struggling with your mental health. But I promise you, you can trust him with them, it’s so difficult but his track record is solid, he’s never lost a bag. He will keep all your things safe while you’re on this journey, you can trust him. He wants you to run through life like that kid in the park, utilising every piece of apparatus because he knows that his most valuable things are safe with the parent, just in the same way, so are yours. Not picking your baggage back up is simple, it looks like this; every time you become overwhelmed or burdened down or frozen solid with fear or sadness or worry, remind yourself he’s got the bags. Tell yourself God’s got this. God is carrying my bags, he is looking after me, he will work it out, I can trust him. He gave everything to prove it to me and his track record is perfect. Continue relentlessly to repeat those things to yourself, even when you don’t believe them, in fact, especially when you don’t believe them. Don’t pick it back up, don’t grow impatient with God, take them back and try to carry them yourself trust him it’s hard but it’s worth it.

There is a reason that you can only carry hand luggage with you on a commercial flight, that’s because the airline wants to guarantee your safety and that you’re comfortable on the journey. I promise you our God is no different, he wouldn’t ask you to do it if it wouldn’t benefit you. Pouring out your worries can be as messy as you like, you don’t have to have them organised or put together. Pour them out on him and leave them there because he cares enough to carry them for you.

We love you,

agape x