Packing light

When I started writing this post, the plan was to give a how-to on traveling with the basic necessities. I was going to find some tips online to share with you (and myself) in honor of the road trip I'm taking in the next few days. However, that has been done, re-done, and over-done. So I won't. (But I've provided some links at the bottom of this post if you're desperate for some help.)

If changing the plans scares you, hold on. We'll still cover packing light, just in a different way.

Most of us know how to have a good time. But when life gets really heavy, and I mean really heavy, having fun can be difficult. When tragedy or a deep loss occurs, enjoying life can sometimes seem like a guilty pleasure and can cause shame. Or maybe it's just hard to push those thoughts, memories, hurts, and heartaches out of mind in order to love life while it lasts. I'm in a place right now that doesn't allow me to go a day without thoughts of disappointment, without pain creeping up at unexpected moments. And, as William Paul Young explains in The Shack, "pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly."

While I wait for healing, I may not be able to fly, but I can still enjoy life if I'm willing to pack a little lighter and endure a good hike, both literally and metaphorically. My husband and I (and the dog) will set off soon for an adventure. We have packed as little as we could allow and have decided that buying necessities on the road will be simpler than packing our entire home. As for emotional baggage, 1 Peter 5:7 says to "give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." This is easier said than done, but I'll do my best. Pain or no pain, I want us all to have a good time. In addition to turning my worries over to God, I know I also need to follow these simple steps from Romans 12:12:

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Bad things have happened, and it's hard to let them go, but we need to focus on the hopes of our futures. We have to endure the bad that life brings, but we can still enjoy the good if we allow ourselves to do so.

"And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun."
—Ecclesiastes 8:15

Here are those links I promised:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/how-to-pack-light-tips-from-a-master-packer/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2766ce0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/us-news-travel/how-to-pack-light-9-tips_b_3354703.html