Reflection by Todd Harm
Travelling Lightly
Take nothing for the journey … and let no one take a second tunic. Luke 9:3
With significant chunks of Australia in lockdown and international travel having ground to a halt, the whole prospect of escaping on a family holiday has taken something of a beating of late. And yet, how important has travel become for us in terms of recharging our batteries and developing perspective? As Alain de Botton writes in his book, The Art of Travel, “Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships or trains.” Outside of long journeys, how much time do we get in the rough and tumble of the everyday to stop … and really think? De Botton goes on to propose that “The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.”
In the passage from Luke, Jesus certainly promotes the benefits of stripping away all the accoutrements of travel – all our ‘baggage’ (both literal and metaphorical). When we ‘travel light’, instead of loading up our vehicle with every appliance and comfort know to man, we rid ourselves of all the distractions that insulate us from others; we are more authentically “us” and we naturally find and make more time to engage with Nature … and pray. The upshot of this approach is a personal vulnerability that allows others to truly see the way Jesus moves in our lives … and for us to see the ways Jesus moves in the lives of others.
Loving God, help us to travel light in our journey – savouring the wonders of Your creation, and deepening our faith and trust in You.
Todd Harm
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De Botton, Alain (2014), The Art of Travel, Penguin General, UK.