Daily Meditation for November 7, 2025

Dragging my luggage through the especially long airport TSA line on my cross-country trip last week, I quietly observed an array of humanity, all quite patiently and mostly politely jostling their way to the security checkpoint. One can presume a lot about people from what they wear—Bears fans, proud grandparents, member of the university Outdoors Club, varsity soccer team players. Some were carrying a lot of stuff, some very little, but one woman’s luggage had a clever sewn-in message that caught my eye: “We All Have Baggage.”

I reflected on that as I people-watched that day. We all carry baggage: emotions, fears, suffering, hardships, pain, a past, parts of us that are hidden from view behind a soft side or a hard shell. Some baggage is easier to spot in the crowd, brighter or more colorful, some is neatly packed away, some is stuffed untidily or deep into hidden pockets.

The term “baggage” often carries a bad reputation, representing undesirable or unhealthy qualities. Yet it is necessary to have baggage on our journey! It clothes us and presents us to the world. What we carry is a culmination of our beliefs, our culture, our values, our experiences, our successes, and our joys as well as the trials and pains of our lives. This is who we are!

On any particular part of our life journey, this baggage may not always show the best of who we are, but we can choose what baggage to bring with us each day. And as we travel along the road, we can be aware and sensitive to the baggage that others carry that day.

By Stephanie Palubicki, OblSB