The Weight of the World

U is for Un-Overwhelmable

It's heavy, isn't it? The weight of the world? Especially when it's resting right there on your shoulders. When it's sitting on someone else's shoulder it doesn't seem so big. We may even think that the weight has been a bit, I don't know, exaggerated maybe? But when it's ours to deal with, there is no hyperbole too big and no scale has numbers large enough to measure the weight. We walk slower, think harder, and speak less when we are supporting this mass. And we just pray that no one notices. It's funny how these are the moments when it becomes so clear how small I am and how big God is. Of course, it's not an instant realization. It often takes a while for the weight to take full effect. Days, weeks and even months may go by before we realize just how heavy this load has become, sitting right there on our shoulders. When this moment of realization arrives, we find ourselves...overwhelmed. I remember, a few years ago now, sitting on my parent's bed, crying more tears than I knew I had, using words like "I just can't do it anymore". I was overwhelmed. The weight finally got to be too much for my human shoulders.

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. " (Matthew 11:28) In the moments when we just can't shoulder the load anymore, we have a God who is able and willing to take the weight and carry it for us. He created the universe so why does it really surprise us that He is capable of supporting the weight of it? No sin, no situation we find ourselves in, no wrong decision surprises Him, overwhelms Him. He is un-overwhelmable. He knows that we are unable to shoulder this weight ourselves and doesn't think less of us for that. Instead, He loves us unconditionally and perfectly in those moments. And removes the weight. And gives us the grace to walk freely with Him.