Red dirt.
It’s everywhere in Georgia.
I became well acquainted with this fact the first morning of Training Camp. 7 AM. The air was already thick and dewy and we’d just had our first taste of sleeping in our tents. The first item on our agenda was to exercise as a Squad.
Readied with our packs filled with everything but our tent on our backs and day packs on our fronts, we were off to hike around campus. Up hills. Down hills. Through the woods and traipsing through the bushes.
Photo by Faith Silva
How is it already hot? WAH!
I slipped on rocks. I fell down in front of my whole Squad. I was trapped on the ground like a turtle on it’s back. Awesome.
Red dirt. I’m covered in it. It’s only Day 2, how am I going to wear these pants again?
When you fall down, what’s the next logical step? Get back up! But when we’re weighted down and strapped in tightly, it feels pretty much impossible. Until you unbuckle your straps, take off your pack and accept the hand that’s reaching out to you.
Multiple times at Training Camp I felt like that turtle, not because of those rocks, but because I was weighted down by unforgiveness of myself that was colored by guilt and shame.
I’m not good enough. I’m a failure.
The packs that I’d been carrying around left me trapped on the ground looking for a way to stand up but I was struck.
And then there was freedom. Unbuckle those straps. Freedom because of the truth that I’d been forgiven. Take off your pack. Freedom because I’d finally forgiven myself. Take my hand. Freedom because God is a good, good father and I am loved by Him.
Red dirt. And there I was, sitting in it.
Did my Squad laugh at me or leave me behind? Absolutely not. They were there right by my side, helping me with the buckles, taking off my packs and extending a hand to help me up. And it didn’t stop there. They offered to carry my packs back to our campsite. Oh my Squad, how I love them so.
So, what’s in your pack? What are you carrying that is keeping you trapped on the ground? Maybe you’ve been able to pick yourself up and keep pushing on, but the more time you carry it around and the more times you fall, it’s just going to keep getting harder to stand up.
Accept this truth: you don’t have to be weighed down. Whether you pack is filled with things that are founded on truth or on lies, you know that thing that continually plays over and over and over in your heart. You don’t have to keep holding onto it.
There is freedom.
You have been forgiven.
You can forgive yourself.
God is a good, good father and He loves you.
He wants to take your hand and help you stand.
Will you reach out and take it?
