THE MORAL OF THE STORY:

“Leave your baggage in the care of God, the Baggage Keeper. In other words, let go of the emotional baggage you’re still carrying — those feelings that are keeping you in bondage. Leave them in the hands of the One who loves you and who can heal you, Jesus Christ.”

Susan Miller

Her luggage is adorable. Of course, everything about her is adorable, so I probably think that way about anything that belongs to, or reminds me, of her.

I’m talking about our 2-year-old granddaughter Mary. I spent the night with Mary and her family recently and then brought Mary back with me to spend the night with us. She seemed very excited about coming here on her own and eagerly helped to pack her suitcase.

Her bag is cute, little and pink, with Winnie the Pooh on the front. It has a pull-up handle and Mary walks proudly when she pulls her little suitcase behind her.

Mary helped me pack her bag and, once we were finished, she stood ready and waiting by her front door. We chatted and sang on the drive home, and then she reminded me that she wanted to bring her suitcase into the house by herself.

When it was time to put on her pajamas that night, she pulled out one thing at a time and, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, asked: “Are these my jammies?” while holding up first her bathing suit, then a dress, followed by a T-shirt, and finally her pajamas.

Soon afterward, I found the quote at the top of this column and thought about a conversation I’d had with a friend who talked about her emotional baggage. “My husband and I both have too much emotional baggage, we’re buried under it, and let me tell you, this baggage doesn’t take us anywhere positive,” she said.

I recalled a talk I gave when I mentioned that we all come to adulthood with our share of baggage; some have more than others. Before I was able to say any more, a voice from the back shouted: “Well, I don’t just have baggage, I have my own steamer trunk.”

Obviously, the type of baggage we talked about wasn’t cute like Mary’s bathing suit and jammies, but it is real, nonetheless. Emotional baggage means things like anger, guilt, shame, resentment, feelings of unforgiveness and other unfinished painful hurts that keep us stuck.

When Mary finally identified and handed me the real pair of pajamas, she still needed me to put them on her in the right way. But God can do so much better when we hand Him our pain and failures. In a way that makes no human sense, God can ease the pain, and sometimes even erase the pain.

The combination of capable professional help, as well as God’s involvement, can transform the pains of the past and lead to freedom and health in the future. It takes time, work and prayer, but the hurtful feelings that keep us in bondage can be reduced and exchanged for forgiveness, closure, healing and growth. All we have to do is hand them over to and trust them with our Heavenly Baggage Keeper.

And you can quote me on that.