baggage

at camp at the end of the session we say "stuff your stuff into your stuff"
but i'm gonna be honest that never worked for me. i am a little "obsessive" about packing.  i can't just stuff my stuff. i Have to fold it. it Has to go into the suitcase in a certain order. it Has to be clean before it can go in.  if it is not clean it Must be separated, which can make awkward lumps at the front in the little mesh pockets.

i am a good packer. i have a brain for space and the amount of space left and the amount that things take up and how exactly to fold something to get it all in there, just right, so nothing breaks.  and so i can easily get through airport security. i'm good at it- and sometimes it stresses me out when other people pack their own things when it could be packed better.

So, this weekend when the priest started talking about suitcases, i perked up.  Something I understand!  and something i think that a lot of my friends understand.  Suitcases.  how many of us have packed one up recently? to go home for a few days, few months. to leave our homes for a few days, or months, starting anew.

I wanted to revisit the readings from this past week, but his homily talked about our suitcases as a metaphor for our life.  he was specifically talking about his years as formation as a Jesuit, that those years were to have been time for him to sift through his life's suitcase up to that point.  That we can take transitions- or the constant moving forward as a chance to continue to carry with us that which is good and helpful in our mission; while at the same time sifting through and letting go of all that stuff that just takes up space.

As we move forward, through the airport, so to speak. we reflect on our call, a call to love.  How do we prophesy to others God's "everpresent, persistent, pestering love"?  What empowers us to prophesy that love? what holds us back?  and how does God call me forward?

what in this manic world of perfect packing that i am carrying from memories and experiences that allows me to move forward in that love and showing others it too?  what would i be better off leaving out of my suitcase as i move forward.

i wanted to share this analogy with you, as it really hit home and made sense to me.