Travel light

"You don't need that."  I knew the voice.  "You don't need to carry that particular pain."

I'd been thinking over a sore spot; felt the pain of it settling in, sinking down, looking to root, to find a home.  And then The Voice.

"This is not something you must carry."  Oh, wasn't He kind, the Counselor Wise?  And didn't He know, with all that was on my plate, what counted and what did not?

There was plenty there, that was sure.  So much bouncing around, ricocheting about inside my brain 'til it seemed my head would explode.  Things large; things small, much of import to weigh, to consider, to trust Him for.  But this, with everything else that concerned me just now?  "Don't," He'd whispered, still.  "Travel light."

Travel light.  Like the North Star shining in the night, the words brought direction, pointed the way.  There was one thing, really, that was needed.  One thing.

To press ever on, always further into Him.  No matter what.  No matter who.  No matter why, where, or when.  Though the earth shook and mountains fell, the one thing needed was to follow hard after Him.

To follow hard even when it was hard, and in the hardness, giving thanks.  "Thank Him for what is," a wise friend had told me once.  Thank Him for what is...

I'm coming 'round.  Finding my focus.  Picking up and moving forward, reaching out like my little boy to grasp His hand, following close.  

I'm thanking Him, too, for just what is.  For what He's doing now.  For what I know (but cannot always see) that He's about.  

May I share this word with you today, you who, too, are tired?  Who've lost focus?  Who need a northern star?

Travel light.  Drop the worry.  Leave the grudge.  Open your hands and let it go.  Thank Him, rather, for what is.  "Jesus loves me, this I know."  And Jesus knows me; this, I love.

Offering for your encouragement today, Little Schrock's recent rendition of the Trinity in green Crayola.  Just in case you're doubting His ability to handle your load.  God, as you'll note here in the middle (and as Little told me himself), "has muscles."