Today is packing day for our next week of Family Retreat.  Since Jerry comes up a couple days after me I leave all of his “stuff” in a corner of our den and his attendant picks it up on the way to camp.  I try to keep his pile as concise as possible.  I hung one bag over the handles of his main suitcase.

Later in the morning I realized I forgot to give him a laundry bag.  I took the lightweight mesh laundry bag and tucked it into an open space in the bag hanging from his suitcase.  Right away the bag and the suitcase fell over.  My first thought was, “for crying out loud, it’s a little light thing- how did it change the balance that much?”  So I picked the luggage up and it once again fell over (what’s the definition of insane?  Trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result . . . . ).

Third time is a charm?  I realized I needed to turn the luggage around so the weight was leaning into another support.  And voila – it stayed upright!!

Right away God reminded me about periods in my life (some very recent) when I know I have a lot on my plate, but I continue to add more.  It often seems like the littlest thing that knocks me over.  Sometimes I even say to Jerry, “I don’t know why I am crying right now, it’s not a big deal.”

The luggage toppling with the addition of “a little thing” was the perfect real life picture for me to see what I do to my own heart and life so often.  Now if I can just remember this lesson in the dailyness of life . . . .