Backpacks!

For those of you that don’t know, I’m living out of a backpack. Well, two backpacks: a 60L that holds basically everything, and a small daypack that holds a little more. Also, the living conditions here are definitely not what I’m used to, and the room has gotten fumigated for bedbugs and roaches, and after unpacking and starting to live comfortably in our new home, we had to move everything out. Here we are again, a few weeks later, having to move to the other side of the building completely. I’m grateful for our new space, but it still can be a pain to pack everything up all over again.

Naturally, I’ve unpacked and repacked my backpack a few times(it’s annoying), but each time I try and pack it a little differently. What a gift it is to figure out new ways every few weeks! But what if we did the same thing with our lives daily? Unpacked and repacked differently? The first few times, I packed my toiletry bag at the very top of my backpack, before realizing it’s one of the heaviest items I carry(and, let’s be very honest, the most important. I’d hate to go without my toothbrush for very long). It is physically impossible to be balanced when the heaviest thing is at the very top, shoved in last. Similarly, it’s impossible to live a life for Jesus when we put Him last, shoved at the top at the last minute. Some days, my faith is heaviest thing in my backpack: the most important, the first thing I pack so my backpack balances well on my back and I don’t tip over when I put it on. Other days, I fall short in this way, where Jesus ends up stuffed at the top, and spiritually I stagger around like a baby giraffe who just learned how to walk. But every single day is a gift. Every single day is a new opportunity to pack up our backpack. Who says we have to make it look the same every time? I still haven’t figured out the perfect way to pack mine, but I have a few months to master backpacking. And the rest of my life to strive to put the most important thing in my life first: Jesus.

How are you packing your backpack tomorrow?

Camille Curtis