"Brad loved to travel. The world was just a wonderful place to him. He always wanted to be a part of wherever he was. He researched everything and then immersed himself in the local customs. He tried to speak their language, eat their food and meet the local people of whatever country we were in. Travelling with him was a joyous experience. Everything was a wonderment to him." (Carol Hall)
I am one of those people who travel heavy. When I pack for a trip, whether a short business trip or a long vacation, I tend to take along everything I think I'll need and then throw in a few more items--just in case. You never know when an extra umbrella or camera will come in handy, and of course, I am usually so encumbered that travelling often becomes quite a burden.
But this summer I made a radical change. Encouraged by my wife, Carol (who travels light), I went to Rome for three weeks with only one carry-on bag. I spent the better part of three weeks packing because it took me a long time to choose which absolutely-necessary items to leave behind. (Short stories are always harder to write than long novels.)
Well, it worked. The carry-on bag was bursting at the seams, but what a relief to roll through airports, buses and trains without two huge bags dragging me down and wearing me out. What a relief to not worry about where they were and whether they would meet me at the end of my flight. What a relief to not have to keep up with a large wardrobe in a small room.
I share this personal insight with you because the whole issue of travelling light came up for me again when I read the opening lines of our Sunday Gospel:
"Fear not little flock for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."
It's a very bold statement of truth which is preceded by lots of encouragement to let go of things which worry and burden us in life. Jesus even goes so far as to tell his disciples how to pack light for their business trips out into the mission field, telling them to "take no money, carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and wear only one cloak." Now that's what I call light travelling.
I suspect that we all need to lighten up in many areas of our life. We inevitably accrue great piles of things, goods, attachments and burdens on our long journey through life.
Those of us who have had to pack up a household and move to a new location understand this natural tendency for us to collect, pile and accrue, to surround ourselves with more than we ever need. And then, I might add, to discover that incredible sense of freedom when all the junk is sorted and trashed during the move.
I remember, during my study tour last summer in Scotland, watching the sheep shearing during the hot July days. One by one the shepherd would round up a large furry creature which would waddle into the pen and thence to the shears. In about ninety seconds, that great coat of wool was lying on the ground and a happy and very-skinny sheep would bound out of its pen and into the fields, acting like a baby lamb, kicking and frolicking. When I looked at that incredible pile of wool sheared from one animal, I had a real sense of the burden it had carried all year and, I might add, a sense of the burdens we carry.
While travelling light has a lot to do with unburdening those external things, bags, and attachments which grow around us like the sheep's woolen coats, it also has to do with shearing our inner burdens as well, those little worries and anxieties which distract us from enjoying the pleasure of God's Kingdom. Once again, I am a minor expert at this form of internal overpacking as well. And I'm aware that anxieties, worries, and unwarranted fears can grow around and burden the soul just as wool on a sheep.
Jesus was always very clear about not letting life's little burdens distract us from His blessed Kingdom. He says, "Fear not" and I believe he means just that. Lighten up, let go of those burdens and preoccupations which distract you from participating in God's blessed Kingdom. "Do not be anxious about your life--what you shall eat or drink or put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the birds in the air, the lilies of the field."
Jesus tells us that anxiety, unnecessary worrying about life, will not add a cubit to our span of life. We now know that undue anxiety will subtract a few cubits from it.
So how do we go about "lightening up" our lives? Well, I've learned that one must be in tune with a larger rhythm of life--the rhythm of the Kingdom.
How do we do this? Well, since I'm still a novice at packing and travelling light, I'm no expert, but I am discovering that the answer lies within.
Buried deep within each one of us there is a dream land which is in reality symbolic of the Kingdom, where cares and woes do not exist. For me it's a simple house on the beach, on some rather deserted island where I can live simply, in tune with God. (An island is a good metaphor. It is a place surrounded by water with no bridges or links to the mainland where we live our hectic lives.) The Kingdom is a place where we can run barelegged on the beach, take morning swims, sit on the porch at sunset and sleep out under the stars if we wish...
I'm discovering that summertime with its serenity and travels is a good time to bring that dream of God's Kingdom out of its safe harbor and into the rough seas of our busy lives as much as we can--to make it more a reality and less a dream.
I've found that going away helps. Those little trips and big vacations are islands--times for me to get in touch with the Kingdom. Packing light and living away from the busyness of the mainland forces me into my island of solitude and renews my awareness and need for the Kingdom.
St. Catherine of Siena, a great Saint whose life I discovered on our visit to Siena, said,
"The cell of self-knowledge is the stall in which a pilgrim must be reborn."
John Sanford calls it the "Kingdom within" for certain springs are tapped when we are alone with ourselves.
I'm also learning that one doesn't have to literally go away to go within. Along with summer trips, there are many helpful techniques to assist us in lightening up our journey to the island of our soul. They include simplicity of living, keeping some balance between our physical, emotional and spiritual selves, taking time out for solitude (one true highway inward) and always, of course, learning how to pack lightly.
We'll talk some more about these holy and serious steps into the Kingdom within, but I want to close on a lighter note by reminding us of the first four words of Jesus' injunction:
"Do not be afraid."
On our search for the inner Kingdom, let's not forget to enjoy the outer Kingdom while we have it. Travelling light means that we take a few more risks and chances to enjoy our life--to eat more ice cream and fewer beans--as that popular poem puts it so well.
I want to be a bit more like one of our great parishioners, Paula Penney, who died last week as bravely and happily as she lived. Paula walked through the final year of her life with a medical problem which could take her life at any moment of any day. And do you know what she did? Paula packed lightly and went to Fiji! She got away from the daily chores and inner burdens to live on that island for a while and enjoy her life to the fullest. She understood and followed Jesus' clear command, "Do not be afraid of life."
So along with your journey inward do not be afraid to dive into the outer one. Who knows, we might even occasionally become, as my favorite poet/philosopher Judith Viorst, puts it, "A Wild Thing." Amen.
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