Shared weight.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the AUTHOR and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 

Being an adult is hard work. Every time when I think I am getting close to considering myself to be grown up, life shows me otherwise. Because working a job is not enough, pile on bills that need to be paid, toilets that need to be cleaned, and food that needs to be bought. Not to even mention, the relationships you are trying to build and figure out and maneuver as you grow from daughter or son, student, sibling, to peer in so many ways. And then the taxes, oh the taxes. And the credit card company who charged you wrong, the insurance that got screwed up, and the little issues that plague our minds and our time.  So when I look at the piles and piles of "to do" that await my adult life, it's a wonder that I even have a moment to stop and think about the real problems adult life brings...you know those crosses each of us carry in our lives? The struggles with addictions, our short tempers, the thoughts of not being enough...those things that weigh us down. What about the struggle to find love after heartbreak or divorce? Or the way we fail to trust because of a bad relationship with a parent, or friend, or stranger in the past? What about these real problems that remain even when we can check all the other adult stuff off our lists? 

With the Easter season approaching, I cannot help but stop and think about the crosses we all bear. Certainly they may not be the agony that the Lord carried, but let's face it, to us they feel like the weight of the world. What do we do with those things that hinder our walk forward? How do we keep going when we feel we cannot take another step? Or what if we do not even want to? What if the WAIT is too long, too hard, that we just fall? How do we get back up? And what is the point of all this being an adult thing anyways? 

Growing up there was this story that always made me smile. It may be the most simple lesson and book I have ever read, but it brings with it a message of love. The story is about a strawberry. It is a ripe strawberry. And the author tells the mouse who has it that there is a bear that can smell it. And he is going to get it. The mouse tries a million ways to hide the strawberry, until he finds the one way he will keep that strawberry out of the hands of the bear. He cuts the strawberry in half and gives a piece to the author and eats a piece himself. At face value this is a simple story of the beauty of sharing. But maybe if we look deeper there is something more there? Maybe the strawberry could be the crosses we carry. And maybe the bear is really the devil. 

So often I think we try to hide the crosses we bare. Maybe if we just sweep them under the rug, or disguise them, or just lock them up inside then no one will know. No one will know we are confused, or bored with our lives, or afraid to love. Maybe people will think we have these picture perfect lives that go exactly as planned. Maybe people will think we have it all together and that we are doing the grownup thing all by ourselves. But the thing is, the bear can still smell that strawberry and he will keep coming for it. He will let it consume us. He will make us obsess over it and second guess things and settle for less than God has planned, just because we have this thing we know he is after and this weight that he knows we lug around with us. But stop for a second and consider how the mouse gets rid of the bear. 

We cannot cover up the crosses that mark our life journeys. We cannot pretend like we do not have depression or anxiety, or act like the divorce of our parents really does not matter. We cannot cover up the fact that abuse changed us, or that drugs bring us down over and over again. I mean we can try. We can try our best to make those things just disappear, like I sometimes wish all the adult things in life would. But maybe we should just start owning those things. Maybe we should just start saying yes, I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, and I'm stepping forward anyways. We cannot do this all on our own. But the mouse did not eat the whole strawberry alone either. He shared it with the author of the story. And the bear no longer held anything over him. The author of our story, He wants to share our burdens with us too. He walked the road to Calvary to prove it to us. The worst day of our lives, the biggest crosses we carry, He walked with them all. And He owned them, FOR US. 

He wants to share with you whatever it is that is weighing you down. He wants to take your hurt, your fear, and your disbelief, and help you own that as a part of who you are and then He wants to set you free...free from the bear, or the haunting thought that looms over you so heavily. He wants to help your cross shape you and help you to become who you are meant to be today and who He desires you to be in eternity. The strawberry does not go away, but because of the mouse's determination to keep it from the bear, it physically becomes a part of who he is and who the author is as well. Our crosses, they can run us down, stop us in our tracks, or make us cringe in fear, or they can become one of the most beautiful parts of who we are in Christ. And truly, a beautiful part of who God is as well. 

I do not know what weighs you down today. But I think if you stop for a moment and ponder it, you do. What part of your life is the devil after? And how are you going to keep that from him? By hiding it? Guarding it? Or owning it as a part of who you are and a part of the journey God has for you? 

Being an adult is a lot of work. But, I think for me, the second I realized I do not have to do it all on my own was the second I realized I was growing up. We have a God who loves us so much that He sent His son to walk with us, to show us the way, and to help carry our crosses. That walk Jesus made, did not change the world because it removed every bad thing, it changed the world because it showed us that even on the worst day in history, God was bigger. God has a reason for every cross, every ripe strawberry, and every adult moment we face, and we have a choice; we can let the devil keep haunting us in those things, or we can share them with God and stop the devil in His tracks. 

New life awaits us as a people on Easter Sunday. But new life can be yours today, if you stop for a moment and share the strawberry with the author of your story.