Being an experienced traveler, you consider yourself an expert when it comes to packing the ideal carry-on. There is no need to worry if youll have enough underwear for your trip or if you brought your belt. All of your necessities are confined to something manageable, or so you think. As you walk through the entryway at the airport, you shake your head at those novices congregating at the baggage check. You wonder why anyone would wait in line to hand their luggage to someone else and trust they can manage to get it to their final destination. You feel a lot safer keeping your bags close to your side.

Passing by the crowd as well as the gate agent, you fully expect that your luggage is going to fit in the little cage at the Jetway. Even though you are in business class and one of the first people on the plane, you are the last person still standing and are holding up the plane from leaving the gate.

Everyone watches as you attempt to cram your carry-on into the overhead compartment. Suddenly you are filled with regret and embarrassment as you realize just how silly you must appear to on-lookers. The bag, which accompanies you on all your trips, is a lot heavier than you ever remembered. Still, youve made it this far and your pride prevents you from turning back now so you speed up your efforts to stuff the bag in the bin. After a few more minutes of wrestling with the luggage, you finally admit defeat and hand your bag to the flight attendant.

Whether we realize it or not, a different type of baggage exists with the individual you find it most challenging to love. As you begin to look at this person in a different light in the month of October, you may have noticed youre holding on to some baggage. It might be wounds caused by the hurtful words and actions of the other party or things you regret doing to them.

You check some of the other luggage tags and see things like pride, jealousy, annoyance or pain scribbled on them. Rather than dealing with the issue at hand or the issues in your own heart, you continue to carry these bags with you and allow it to influence your relationship with this individual.

The weight of this burden has slowed down your pursuit of redeeming this relationship. Instead of looking to the future, your time is spent focusing on moments from the past. Your not looking for reasons to love, but more justifications to defend your behavior.

Coming to grips with what causes this tension is terrifying.  So, you convince yourself that things will always be this way and continue to cling on to your baggage. The time has come to ask yourself: what keeps you from checking your baggage and trusting that God can redeem this relationship?

• What keeps you from checking your baggage and trusting that God can redeem this relationship?

• What is one proactive step you can take to deal with the baggage that exists in this relationship?

Are you looking for a way to keep your word in front of you all year long? Register for a My One Word account! One of the key features of a MOW account is an online Word Journal that allows you to capture your thoughts to reflective questions like you see above. You can go back at any time to read your completed journals to see how God has been moving in your life through your word in 2010.  If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!