Last Saturday, Shade decided to clean a part of her room in the hostel. She saw shoes she had not worn in months. There was even a pair of six-inch heels she had been saving for the FYB (Final-Year Brethren) dinner that she missed last week. It had gathered dust. She saw clothes she had not worn in months too. There was a red gown she had not seen in a year. There was another cashmere sweater that Aunt Tola had sent from the States. It had been resting in one corner of her suitcase. Many of the clothes were already smelling musty.
They were out of sight and they were out of mind. Yet they occupied space.
There was a bookshelf in the far right corner of her room. There were her primary school books ranging from ‘Chike and the River’ by Chinua Achebe to ‘Koku Baboni’. Her little cousins had been complaining that they needed storybooks to read when she went visiting about a month ago. She could just let the books go; sow them into the lives of those who needed them.
***
Many of us are lugging around baggage that we ought to have dropped a long, long time ago. Our hands, pockets and luggage are filled with rubbish. And there is space for nothing from God. We are holding tightly to the bitterness of yesteryears. The pains of the 90s has held us down. We are not progressing.
The world is in 2019. Our lives are in 1999. We have remained slaves to fears; tragic experiences; abuse and their siblings. I am not belittling bad experiences. I just want us to be free from their choking holds.
For some others, the good experiences from their past are still holding them bound. They have refused to move on. They forget that the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
Some of us feel so inadequate, a product of the lies that have been spoken to us by the devil and his messengers. For others, what we did or did not do have caused a lot of regrets. Drop the guilt at Jesus’ feet; that is the only way to moving forward.
Dear friends, declutter your space. Stop dragging unnecessary baggage around. Free your hearts and lives for goodness from Jesus. An unforgiving heart does not become you.
Matt.11.28 – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
© Toluwanimi Lazarus (2019)
Picture credits: www.theredteam.com & www.unsplash.com
