What do you need to leave behind?

We have a family tradition of packing our most worn out, grossest gym shoes for family vacation. You know the ones that you wear for yard work or a particularly messy house project? Or on muddy, rainy days? The pair you have your kids wear on their field trips? Yeah, those shoes.

That way, while we’re at the beach, who cares if a wave washes over your shoes? Who cares if your sneakers get filled with sand? What does it matter if they get splashed with briny ocean and smell horrific the next day? Not us Smiths. Because we know at the end of the trip, we’ll leave those shoes there. We won’t need them any more.

The shoes we left behind at the beach this year.

Now, keep in mind these are shoes that we probably should have pitched a month or two prior to our beach trip. But because of our tradition, it forces us to take inventory of our shoes and pick a pair to say adios to every summer. And the way it feels to throw those sneakers away? So freeing. To know I’ll never again have to wear those stinky shoes with the hole in the toe and the worn out souls, that even though they took up space in my suitcase on the way here, they won’t take up any room on the way home. Or ever again.

This year as we were tossing these old gym shoes, it got me wondering what else I needed to leave behind at the beach from my life? What else was worn out, past its utility, no longer served me? And I don’t mean was there a pair of jean shorts I’d outgrown. I mean what was God calling me to purge from my schedule, my brain, to free me up for the goodness He has for me?

I posed the question to our family. The answers included wanting to leave negative emotions, worries, the feeling that we need to control everything, some unnecessary tasks, stress, fear of the future, and too much time on our phones at the beach and return home without any of these burdens. 

Obviously no one wants these things in the first place, but they just kind of grow and pile up and evolve until one question in our mind or stream of thoughts or activity in our days turns into something that’s taking us away from all the love, hope, joy, and grace Jesus offers us. 

Just like our annual shoe exercise helps us purge a pair that needs tossed, this mental exercise can help us eliminate some things in our lives that also need pitched–things that might be keeping us from the abundant life Jesus has for us (John 10:10).

Jesus gives us so much goodness– rest, meaning, purpose, and peace. He will love us forever and never leave us. But sometimes in order to receive all the fullness Jesus has for us, we need to lay some things down. Simon and Andrew left their fishing nets.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him (Matthew 4:18-20)
James and John left their boat:
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matthew 4:21-22).
Not because those things were necessarily awful, but just because they were hindering the disciples from stepping into the full, free life He had for them.

What’s hindering you from all of God’s goodness?

What do you need to leave behind?

I don’t know what Jesus is asking you to leave behind today, but I’m guessing as you read this something came to mind. It could be a habit, an old perspective, an excuse, one of the things my family listed or something else altogether. But two cool things about Jesus:

1. He won’t force you to leave that thing behind. He’ll let you choose. 
   
2. If you choose to let go of that thing, He’ll have even more goodness and freedom waiting for you. 
   

So, what do you need to leave behind? Reply and let me know, so I can be praying with you for newfound freedom. Let’s lighten our loads and put some more spring in our steps to walk into the abundant summer Jesus has waiting for us.

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