verb  1.open and remove the contents of (a suitcase, bag, or package) 2. analyze (something) into its component elements

Every trip, vacation, or weekend getaway in life requires a packed bag. We wouldn’t think of leaving the house, even for one night, without some kind of suitcase. The same goes with this journey we refer to as life. Every time we experience a “life change” we end up taking a bag with us, and after the move, we begin to unpack. As its contents lay before us we make several observations. We should have packed better, spent a little more time contemplating our needs — maybe we should have even made a list. Other times we overpack, and the weight of all that extra, unneeded “stuff” weighs us down.

But it is in the unpacking that we make sense of the journey. We discover the hidden meaning of life events; we see the change each wrought within us, and we find a lesson learned in each one.

So it is with me. I write to unpack, to figure things out, to make sense of the moments. I read to unpack, to deepen my understanding of how others fill their own suitcases. And in doing both, I understand myself a little more.

The best part of a journey are the ones who decide to travel with us. So many of you have cheered me on as I’ve written of journeys, both painful and joyous. I hope you will continue to be my travel companion as we tackle unread pages of personal prose, stumble upon the poetic life, letting them both become our map to discovery – of a life lost in God.

Looking back to one of life’s journeys, what is one thing you either left behind or decided to take with you on the next trip?