Pack your backpack

I have done a couple of blogs on organization in the past and also talked about pairing down to what is essential.  I have talked about one of my favorite shows, Tiny House Nation on FYI network with John and Zack.  John's main focus on the show is to help prepare the family for living in the tiny house.  On the surface that sounds really simple, but the reality often is that they want to take everything and have everything in a tiny house that they have in a full size or oversized house.  One of the big things about the show is having less stuff so you can focus your attention on what really matters and on having experiences.

In the military this was easy.  You had one bag for each type of deployment and that was what you lived out of for that deployment.  More importantly, everything had a place in your bag, your various pockets of each pair of pants or shirt.  That way you knew where it was when you needed something.  You practiced relentlessly pulling reloads from the spot you kept them.  When you needed to do calculations on your map, your hand knew exactly where your map protractor was.

Several of the discussions I became involved in before I left had to do with Bible verses that talked about giving up your possessions or not being worried about your possessions.  For example: 

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 19: 21-24

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12: 16-21

I remember the movie "Up in the Air" released in 2009 with George Clooney and Anna Kendrick.  In the movie, Clooney's character gives speeches about "Unpacking your Backpack" where he admonishes his audience to consider how uncomplicated their lives would be if they didn't have responsibility for so many things: knick-knacks, photos, furniture, homes, and relationships. "Imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It's kinda exhilarating, isn't it?"  In one his talks he continues with the same allusion to getting rid of human connections because relationships are the biggest burdens in one's life.

One might think on the surface that the movie and the bible verses are talking about the same thing.  To be unburdened by things of this life that weigh you down.  But in reality, at least mine they are actually talking about things that are opposite.

The movie equates everything as a burden in your life including your relationships.  The character's goal was to achieve a milestone (literally a specific number of airline miles traveled).  Once he reached the milestone, he really did not have anything of importance in his life and he was left with a gaping hole.

The Bible passage is talking about removing those things from our life that are blocking our relationship with God.  If we only focus on goals, items to own or things that bring us a moment of happiness as opposed to relationships with others and experiences in helping others we will be empty in the end.

During my previous time in Tanzania, I had a small or tiny house or maybe even a micro house.  I still filled it up with things.  Many of those things did not make the trip back to the states because of the limited space on the plane luggage.  So as I prepared to come back and pack my bags, I focused as much of my energy on those things I would need for the purpose of relationships.  I limited myself to one regular bag and one very small bag that will hold everything between visits.  The reason I did this was so I can focus more on the experiences I get to have along this journey and the relationships I get to build.  I built a lot of relationships here in Tanzania and many are already paying off in this new adventure. 

I hope that this experience will be solely about God and what he wants me to do including new relationships but I remember those I already have and those wonderful experiences I  had.  Especially my walking friends that always came out screaming "picha picha" so I would take their picture.  Yes, it interrupted my walk but those kids loved it especially when I had the camera that would give them a print.