Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:18-30 (MSG)
Jesus calls and invites us….”Come. Get away with me. I want to show you something new.”
Me: “OK.” And I show up with a large trunk, a big and small suitcase, a backpack and multiple pouches of things stuck in my pockets and hanging around my neck.
Me: “I need to bring all this. I don’t go anywhere without my stuff.”
Jesus: “Are you sure you want to carry all that?”
Me: “Yes, I’ve got this. I’ve been carrying it for years.”
Jesus: “OK. Let’s walk together.”
We start our journey. As we walk together, I see glimpses of Him that I’ve never seen before. He loves people and touches them in ways that are new to me. I see Him send others that love Him to help folks. I watch literal miracles happen before my very eyes. After some time, I realize that my big trunk has become a nuisance because I am trying to keep up and it’s slowing me down.
Jesus: “You sure you need that big trunk?”
Me: “Well, let me look.” I open it up and inside I see a bunch of old hurts. I see things that happened that made me feel small or insignificant. I realized that lately I haven’t felt those things so I take them out and throw them away. I throw away some of the old hurts too but I keep some. I move them to a smaller bag. Not sure I am willing to let go of those yet.
Jesus: “Let’s walk.”
As we continue our journey, I began to help Jesus with some of the things he is doing. I put down my bags and reach out to others. On one of these side stops, when we started walking again, I accidentally left the small suitcase. After a moment of panic, I realized I didn’t really need it. We kept walking.
One of the things I noticed was that on our journey, I started picking up other things. Things like a peace I couldn’t explain and this inner happiness that seemed to be around a lot. I didn’t have anywhere to put them so I started taking stuff out of my big suitcase so I could take them along. Jesus said I didn’t need to pack them. They were always going to be part of who I was and would travel with me. I realized that I had taken quite a bit out of my large suitcase. Insecurities, anxieties, fear were laying there on the ground. I put them back in the suitcase and took it to the trash. I left it there.
Jesus: “You ready to keep walking?”
Me: “Yes.” By this time, I had a backpack and some pouches of things that I couldn’t seem to let go of. Some of them were possessions I thought I couldn’t live without. In one of the pouches I kept money. I couldn’t go anywhere without knowing I was fully prepared and had my money. In one pouch was the need to be successful….you know, the way the world defines success. These things defined who I was. I couldn’t leave them.
As we continued our journey, we hit a bad storm. Really bad. My backpack and some of my pouches were ripped from me. I was panicked. I wasn’t sure what I would do without those things to identify who I was.
Jesus: “Don’t worry. Just keep in step with me. Look to me for your identity. And your money? Not needed here. I will provide all you need.”
This part of the journey was the hardest. I was reluctant to believe that he would do what he said. And how in the world do you identify with Jesus? I wasn’t even sure of how to get my arms around that one. But as we continued to walk, I realized he was right. He provided for all my needs and in this process of letting go of my “stuff”, I found myself. I knew who I really was.
I look back and marvel at the way Jesus let me come, just as I was. He didn’t have any expectations that I was going to show up without my bags and be perfect. He knew I couldn’t. He let me walk the journey with Him, let me experience the unforced rhythms of grace. I still have some pouches stuck here and there. It seems sometimes I empty one and an old one fills back up. It’s OK. I know Jesus is walking this journey with me and will never leave me to figure it out on my own.