I think back to my Army days. All those foot marches and all the pain associated with them. As a young private I packed pretty much everything I could before we went out. I wanted to make sure I had all the comforts to help make life easier. I made sure to have extra meals, snacks, and whatever else I could think of to help ease the time in the field. My ruck sack was huge, packed full and HEAVY! After lugging it around for about 5 or 10 miles, I would definitely feel the pain of the weight I was packing. It dug into my shoulders and blistered my feet.

It didn’t take me long to realize that some of the things in my ruck sack weren’t really necessary for the mission. I thought they would help but in reality they only weighed me down.

I learned to pack light and to sleep without a blanket, I learned to eat only what was needed to keep my mind and body active. I realized that many of the items I had packed were only going to weigh me down and hurt me rather than help me. Traveling light is much better than traveling with a heavy load.

Isn’t this what we do when we place the heaviness of un-forgiveness into our lives? We feel that we can’t survive without it and we pack it deep down into our bags and we go through life carrying the heaviness around thinking the whole time that we are okay. But the truth is, that we are not okay, we are only hurting ourselves, others, and our relationship with God when we do not simply let go of the un-forgiveness in our hearts.