If you have been following the blog you may remember the picture of my close companion, "Yellow Backpack." My dear friend and I were literally and not always happily inseparable from march to august of this year.
Throughout the summer and changing locations every three to four days, I became a master packer - no really I have perfected the art! I gradually, strategically and systematically over four months eliminated all unnecessary weight and bulk. The Nalgene went, the water filter, the sleeping mat and the full size towel. Now those may seem like crucial and to some extent even life preserving items, but if you're resourceful enough you can get by without them - trust me!
Now when I decided to fly home for Thanksgiving this past week, I knew I definitely wanted to only bring a carryon. One, because I didn't have a suitcase and two, I didn't want to pay the fee. I figured, if I can live out of a backpack for four months, then I could totally get by with a tote bag for a four-day-weekend!
Sure enough it worked, and I even remembered to leave my knife at home this time!
During the holidays we seem to come down with Bass-syndrome; we get hooked on bright lights and fancy displays that tell us what we "need" and how last year's "necessities" are now obsolete. I've decided for the next month when twinkling stars and aromatic smells make me wish for the next can't-live-without item, I will remind myself of Matthew 16:24-26,
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?'"This world has nothing to offer, but emptiness and dissatisfaction - Follow Him!
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