Perhaps you have seen the blogs or heard someone talk about their “word of the year.” The one getting the most press among the posts I have read seems to be “Simplify.”

Certainly, this is something I should embrace and attempt. There is no place in which this is more evident than in what I pack to bring on a road-trip. If I fly, I can get by with the essentials – especially since the airlines charge for extra bags and weight. However,  if my car is the mode of transportation, then whatever fits tends to get added.

Rarely, does everything I packed get used. I had high hopes in using some of the pampering items, but usually don’t manage to use the facial stuff more than once or twice. And, my cuticle cream isn’t used any more often than at home. In an effort to be prepared for any weather, I over-pack options. but tend to wash and re-wear my favorites – it helps that there are usually laundry facilities available.

Because of this tendency to take too much, I have multiple trips at the beginning and end of vacation packing up my stuff.  Fitting it all in is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle so it doesn’t shift during travel.

Camping is not much better. When my husband and I used to tent-camp, it was NOT an experience in roughing it – at all. Our suburban was filled to the brim with every gadget that would make it more like “home.” Makes me wonder why I didn’t just stay home.

The same affliction has infected my purse – twice, I have broken a strap trying to hold the weight of my “necessities.”

So, it would behoove me to learn to pack lighter, to be able to travel more easily – especially since I like vacations and trips.

I will be attending two different conferences later this year and will be traveling with other attendees. This will limit the space I am allowed, so it would be a good time to pack only what is needed.

What about the other “baggage” in my life. Do I continue to carry around what should be left behind, so I have room for what is needed?

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  (Eph. 4:31–32. ESV)