When you take your family on a vacation, do you ever look at all the luggage you have to pack into the car some how? You see one bag in every moment and you try to think back to all those times you played Tetris to fit all the bag into the car. Finally when you have finished getting them all in you seam to have forgotten just one bag. You have to unpack everything and find a place for that bag and you just wish you had planned it out. Sometimes that happens in our lives. We get all these items thrown at us, all at once, but you forget to plan out how to handle it all and it ends up a big mess and you mindlessly push aside one small thing until the end and you have to unpack all over again.
You see, I’m not the best packer when it comes to taking a trip, I tend to under pack, I lean toward being more of a minimalist especially when traveling. I’m definitely not a list person either, so I trust my mental check list a little more than I should, however, I always tend to think I can buy whatever I forget at my destination. But we all know that’s not always true, as I learned from a recent trip. Our family was destined for a 3 week trip to vacation and see family. After arriving at our first few day stop, I realized I forgot the power chord for my electric toothbrush – I love my electric toothbrush – I was going to have to make a run to the store to get a good old fashion toothbrush to use on the rest of the trip. . It reminded me of how important it is that pack well for living our lives.
Three Things To Pack
1. Pack according to your destination. Sounds like a no brainer! Yet many people don’t have a destination in mind when it comes to their life journey – so how can they pack accordingly? Actually this probably should read “have a destination in mind.”
2. Pack lightly. Airlines are forcing over packers to do this with their luggage check fees. However, when it comes to packing for success in living we often pack other peoples problems and hurts with us not realizing they are weighing us down and impending our journey.
3. Pack smartly. You’ve probably heard that when it comes to packing your clothes in a suitcase you should roll rather than fold – less wrinkles and you get more in. In packing smartly for life’s journey, the same concept applies: try a different approach. Don’t get caught in the trap of doing everything the same way everybody else does. You are a unique masterpiece of God and He has created you to do things in a unique way.
Next time you pack for a trip consider how it applies to packing your bags for the journey of life. Though I’m not a list maker – this is the one time I think it would really help. By the way, kind of weird but I didn’t have to buy a toothbrush on our trip. I told my wife Kathy about it and she said “I’ve got you covered, I just went to the dentist and they gave me a toothbrush and I never took it out of my purse.” Nice to know those in your life are helping you pack successfully for life’s journeys regardless of the choice of destination.