It’s Time to Drop the Bag, My Brother

You carry not a giant backpack anymore
Nor those oversized black hand-me-down shoes
You elegantly roam in doctor’s blue scrubs
Performing surgeries, healing heart patients
What about your own heart you leave behind?

You no longer hold my finger to nursery
Or follow me out, unwilling to be left alone
You are fearless and a self-made man
Who needs not a sister, patronizing him on what to do

And yet, I scribble today only for you
Because we teach our children everyday
How to succeed, never how to fail
As you mend your patients’ hearts when they fail
Don’t forget the one you carry inside: your own (your baggage)

Sometimes in life, blessings come as hardships
What feels harsh to accept
May be God speaking to us
For when we fumble, we grow

Your bag of problems may be larger today
Than that giant nursery bag you’d held one day
Drop those problem; let them go
They are not worthy of your soul
Shed the burdens, they deserve not a shard of you

God created all his children, including you
Love yourself when its hard to do
We all make mistakes, we all fall
It’s not a feat only you know how to do

But what if I told you today
Our mistakes are tools through which God speaks
And we discover who are truly ours–and who are not
Would you laugh and dismiss me . . .
If I said it’s important to know your real friends?

For every second we value the wrong
We lose it with those where we truly belong
Count your blessings, and you will find
You have no time left to value the petty

So waste not another second
Pick up the pieces of your life
Recreate that dream that beaconed you
But not with those who failed to see your heart
It’s time for better investments

Drop that bag that was never yours
Bigger, better, bolder, more beautiful
That’s where you are destined to be
That giant bag is petty compared to the places you will see