heavy heavy sugar baby

Why in the world would God let such heavy weights in life fall into our arms, onto our backs, into our minds and hearts? What's the use of this?

Let's be clear: I don't mean actual weights. I mean weighty situations we face. Miscommunication. Relationships. Work. Fights. Choices. Turmoil. Angst. Dreams. Annoyances. Hopes. Hopes deferred.

I can say this for myself: part of learning what weights and burdens I should carry comes from the trial and error of learning what I cannot carry.

Like many of you, I possess a stubborn streak. So when someone -- speaking with wisdom, with experience, with grace -- suggests to me that a burden may not be meant for me to carry, I want to rebel. I wish to resist. No one tells me how not to handle something! I pick up and carry what I want!

And yet. Time eventually proves the sageness of this counsel lovingly offered to me. It was though God kept telling me, through the wisdom of others, "please let go of this -- it's gonna hurt you more if you don't" ... and I would not let go. Sunk-cost fallacy had me hypnotized.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." -2 Corinthians 4:7. It's wise to remember this descriptor of ourselves. We're clay. We're fashioned into jars. Clay jars can hold a lot. But jars are not invincible, nor indestructible.

When I've relinquished many heavy weight situations in life, it wasn't by choice. It was because I could not contort or warp myself to carry it any longer. It's not my design. 

Just because God allows a weight onto your heart doesn't automatically mean it's yours to carry, indefinitely. It's not your design. Every weightlifter puts the barbell back onto the floor. Weights, by design, should be picked up properly, and put back down ... properly.

Sometimes God lets such weights come our way so we can learn -- from experience -- what is not ours to carry. Sometimes we're given heavy weights so we can learn how to pick them up, just to give them to God and to let go of them. It's how we learn. And from there, we gain a sensibility of how to shoulder other weights. What are you carrying around in your clay jar heart and mind?