The Weight of the World

A mourning dove calls somewhere in the darkness of early morning. The leaves on the maple move in a breeze that blows through and I notice for the fist time how near the limbs are to the porch. The tree is growing. Spring is here and a fresh, new beginning is in the air but, in spite of this, sometimes events happen that burden the heart. All I have to do is listen to the news or pick up a newspaper to realize how many things that should be right, are not.

Add to these worries of the world, the personal problems, the loads that we all carry, and it’s enough to take the joy out of spring. If I let it! My mom used to say that I should let them, “slide off like rain off a duck’s back” Now, that’s a pretty apt description of not letting the negative become the focus point of the day.

Negative stuff is always described as being heavy or weighty. Have you noticed that? “Weighted down with care”, “a heavy burden to carry”, “a load of trouble”. There’s good reason for that. A person with a lot on her mind does not generally have a springy step and a smile on her face, unless she is pretty good at dissembling. Contrasted with this is the way we speak of being happy, “as light as air”, “floating on cloud nine”, “a burden lifted off my shoulders”.

Now, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to guess which is the more enviable mindset. The problem is, how does one shuck all those niggling doubts or heavy worries that only grow more onerous with time? For, truth is, the longer a problem is carried, the heavier it becomes. I’m reminded of a neat little rhyme–I don’t know where it came from nor who wrote it: For every trouble under the sun, there is an answer or there is none. If there is one, try to find it; if there is none, then never mind it.

Better advice than that would be to give it to the Lord. I’d like to bundle up every worry, place it in the hands of the Lord, and forget about it. Since I can’t do that physically, I do it through prayer. I tell the Lord all those things that trouble me, those problems to which there seems to be no solution, those pressing needs that seemingly must have an answer, and I ask Him to take care of them. Next step is not picking up the burden again as soon as I get up from my knees. Sometimes I have to remind myself several times during the day that the problem doesn’t belong to me any more; it’s the Lord’s and He will take care of it.

Being joyful doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of all the evil, the problems, and those gnawing little doubts; it just means that I have confidence in the One who is in charge and believe that He is taking care of them.The best way to begin a new day, or a new season of the year is to remember “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).