Travelling Light

Summer is a time when many people take a holiday.  A time to put down the pressures of life and to have a break, a rest and a time of refreshment.

With the rise of budget airlines, where you have to pay extra to put a suitcase in the hold, many people just travel light, with only a carry on bag or a small suitcase. 

In the Message version of Matthew 11: 28-30 we read:

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

How are you feeling at this point in the year?  Are you travelling lightly through the events and situations in which you find yourself?

Or are you feeling weighted down by events/responsibilities/ burdens/ cares and concerns?

As we journey through life we tend to acquire baggage that we carry around with us, that weighs us down.  In his book, Travelling Light, Max Lucado suggests that the bags we carry are not made of leather or canvas or polycarbonate.  He suggests instead that they are made of burdens.  For example the suitcase of guilt, a carrier bag of discontent, a backpack of doubt or grief.

Carrying unnecessary luggage is exhausting, as any traveller will tell you!  So I invite you to pause for a moment or two and in the stillness, ponder on the burdens that you might be carrying at the moment.  Write them down as they come to your mind.

When you have finished writing, fold the piece of paper in half and place it on your lap.  Then, in your imagination see yourself walking down a path towards a cross. When you reach the cross, place your piece of paper at the foot of the cross, to symbolise that you are letting go of these, and want to walk freely into the future.

So be content with who you are…..God’s strong hand is on you; Live carefree before God; He is most careful with you. 

1 Peter 5:7 The Message 

Ponder

Now choose one of the Bible verses in italics.  Read it slowly a few times and ponder on what God wants to share with you through it today.

Prayer

Thank you Lord that you invite me to keep company with you. Show me how to live freely and lightly. Amen

The Backpack – An audio meditation to accompany this devotional

The Backpack is a brief awareness exercise, before an interactive meditation, to enable you to let go of any burdens you are carrying.

The theme is taken from ‘Travelling Light’ by Max Lucado . It lasts approximately 10 minutes, including narration, music and periods silence.

Dorinda Miller

For over two decades Dorinda has offered various forms of spiritual accompaniment and spiritual direction. She has been a regular visitor at the Convent of the Holy Cross since 1980 and she has been leading Quiet Days and retreats across denominations both here in the UK, and overseas in the Middle East and Asia. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, going for walks, pilates, and rug-making! Dorinda offers led meditations and reflections at her website which can be found at into-deeper-waters.com