In a conversation with friends this past weekend, I realized there are two types of people when they get home from a vacation:
- Those who come home and unpack so quickly you can’t even tell they’ve been anywhere.
- Those who leave a suitcase on their floor for a couple days or more and still need to unpack it.
I’m not here to tell you one is right, and one is wrong. I think it boils down to the fact that we are all wired a little differently. This plays out in the simplest of tasks…like when we choose to unpack a suitcase. For some, a suitcase on the floor would be a nagging reminder that there’s something left on our to-do list. It would eat away at your mental space and just reading this sentence raises your anxiety that there may be a bag or box that needs your attention. Until that suitcase is unloaded and stored in its proper place, your life is out-of-balance and incomplete. For others, it’s just not a priority. It’ll sit there until you need something in it, or it’s in the way enough that you unpack it to move it. Maybe it’s a little bit of hanging on to the idea of vacation as long as possible…or just a little laziness…
When I was in the Divinity School at Gardner-Webb, they used a suitcase analogy to talk about our studies and personal theology. The idea was that we come into Divinity school or a particular class with a “packed suitcase.” It would be full of what we thought about God, the truth we read in scripture, and our knowledge to that point on whatever that subject happened to be. We were encouraged to unpack everything during class and pray for guidance. At the end of the class, we would “repack” the suitcase. We may repack every thought or notion we had about God when we arrived, but we might also add to the suitcase or repack it in a different way.
We’ve had a busy summer here at PSBC. As we “unpack” from the summer and “repack” for the fall, I hope we all take time to reflect on what God has taught us this summer. Take time to think about where you have seen Him at work and where you have felt the Spirit calling.
As this summer season, the vacation season, comes to a close, I think it is incredibly important for us to pause and remember what God has done over the last two months. Jesus often took time to retreat and to pray. I encourage us all to do the same.
Prayer: God, give us the strength to unpack from the summer and repack for what You have in store this fall. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Aaron
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