Today's object is 'baggage'.  The focus is mostly on material possessions, and their potential to become very important to us, but there is also some metaphorical use, with 'baggage' as the thoughts and feelings we may carry with us, internally, and which prevent us achieving our full personhood.

I have a misisonary friend who always travels light... She has recently spent around two months on home assignment with nothing more than a small backpack... quite salutory when I fling wide my wardrobe doors and see how much stuff I have in there!  I'm sure it is wise to reflect on what we need, what we treasure, and what we could reaonsably relinquish.

For me, it's the metaphorical stuff that resonates.  My tendency to overthink, to over reflect, and to assume that I must be the one who is wrong - even when I know I'm not!  It's hard work to put down this stuff.  Hard not to feel responsible when I shouldn't.  Sometimes I do have a 'big bag of worries' as the kiddies book is titled.

Jesus said, my burden is light... Not a life free from baggage, but a life with baggage that isn't going to cause us to stoop or stumble.  Perhaps this burden is something like 'responsiblilty' which has implications for how I behave, but which should not, if carried correctly, be burdensome.

Lots of big stuff happening locally, nationally, internationally... I, for one, need to learn what I should be carrying, and what I should be putting down!