Seasoned with Salt

Baggage Check-In

In Sunday morning's live performance of the "Back to Eden" series of skits, Jeff Hutchison and Charlie Hall (a very close relative) gave us a funny look at the perils of "baggage" handling. Jeff's must-have items for his journey included three mismatched suitcases packed with a hodgepodge of necessities including things pretty, tasty, fun, and very, very heavy (that's where the kitchen/bathroom sink came in). Doug, in his sermon, then asked "What's in YOUR Bag?"

What's in my bag? More than I care to admit - even to myself. One bag contains my obsession with the extra 30 or so pounds I've gained in the past couple of years thanks to unrestrained amounts of salty, fatty, and sweet foods. Another holds the chip on my shoulder from the distorted perception that others have had easier, happier, wealthier, skinnier, etc. lives than me. But the heaviest and ugliest bag of all is splitting at the seams with bad attitude. Can you relate?

I just completed week 3 of the final marathon training, a divinely inspired goal with two incredibly godly women that I'm thankful to call friends. In addition to my alarm clock, you know what wakes me up at 5:30am each morning? Doubt, fear, and laziness in the form of "What are you thinking? You can't do this! It's too hard. You have zero ability. It hurts. Why not give up now and save yourself the frustration and embarrassment of failing?"

Been there? In his book entitled What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, Shad Helmstetter writes that 77% of what we think is negative. Read that again. For most of us, seventy-seven percent of everything we say to ourselves is negative! And have no doubt, the brain believes what we tell it most.

I hope you'll join me in working to lighten the load of a bad self-attitude. Remember, "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2) See you at baggage check-in!

* "...Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
Luke 24:38

* "As a rule, attitudes are justifiers of behavior rather than causes of it."
The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer

* "...let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us."
Hebrews 12:1

* Behave out of what you know is truth rather than what you feel...If you don't start thinking differently, you will never feel differently.
Beth Moore

* "I love you, Lord. You are my strength."
Psalm 18:1

* The enemy wants to make the clean feel unclean in hopes that they will act unclean.
Beth Moore

* Oh, the difference a mind can make!!!

(Those not in quotes are my own paraphrasings; my apologies to the original authors)

Posted by MiChal at July 20, 2003 06:55 PM