As You are Going ~ What are You Carrying???

Greetings Dear Reader,

When I was twelve, my dad and I planned a hike at the Georgia end of the Appalachian Trail.  We had set the date for late spring and I spent weeks planning, mapping, and buying supplies.  This was the first time since my Grandfather had passed away three years earlier that an adult male was doing something adventurous with just me.  I am sure that at the time my dad did not consider this.

It was the packing that should have been overseen and corrected.  I chose the food and it included ample canned goods for the long weekend.  I was not experienced and did not realize that I was overfilling the pack.  The weekend was hotter than I expected and the pack was too heavy.  My poor breakfast choices, the Georgia humidity, and the overweight pack soon led to my succumbing to the burden.  The trip lasted only the morning.

  

The problem was that I was carrying too much weight with me.  As we are going, if we are going to be able to manage the journey, we must not take along that which we do not need or that which though needed is in a form that will hinder our progress.  Most of what I mean is our baggage of mind and heart.  We carry too many things that should be left behind to truly be free to love as we are going. 

I must purge those things of the past daily so that I can carry only what I need.  The idea of loving people as I go requires that the moment of encounter be free of burdens from the past.  I must be focused on Christ and ensuring that others see him as well.  I must treat every encounter as if it is vital to that person’s journey that they see the light of Christ in me.

There are things I have carried for far too long.  I put them down and then foolishly pick them up again.  It is the burdens we carry that keep us from seeing how free we really are.  Everything I carry that does not reflect Christ and his love is useless.

The idea of following and seeking Christ as we go includes making sure that I carry nothing that is unnecessary. This includes things that should have been left at the cross.  That younger me did not realize this and packed unwisely for the journey.  I seem to finally; decades later be getting it.  Let us shed some of our burdens Dear Reader and travel further together.

Dear Younger Me – Mercy Me

Dear younger me
Where do I start
If I could tell you everything that I have learned so far
Then you could be
One step ahead
Of all the painful memories still running thru my head
I wonder how much different things would be
Dear younger me

Dear younger me
I cannot decide
Do I give some speech about how to get the most out of your life
Or do I go deep
And try to change
The choices that you’ll make cuz they’re choices that made me
Even though I love this crazy life
Sometimes I wish it was a smoother ride
Dear younger me, dear younger me

If I knew then what I know now
Condemnation would’ve had no power
My joy my pain would’ve never been my worth

If I knew then what I know now
Would’ve not been hard to figure out
What I would’ve changed if I had heard…

Dear younger me
It’s not your fault
You were never meant to carry this beyond the cross

Dear younger me

You are holy
You are righteous
You are one of the redeemed
Set apart a brand-new heart
You are free indeed

Every mountain every valley
Through each heartache, you will see
Every moment brings you closer
To who you were meant to be
Dear younger me, dear younger me

You are holy
You are righteous
You are one of the redeemed
Set apart a brand-new heart
You are free indeed

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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