Holding the Weight
Life is heavy. Your burdens are heavy. Carrying the burdens of others is heavy. A heavy load needs a firm foundation.
There is a legend that travels around stating that a famed college library is sinking into the ground because its architect failed to take the weight of the books into account. While this is just legend, according to Snopes.com, “Libraries (and other buildings) have been known to experience sinkage for other causes, though. One real sinking library in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, was built in 1977 on a site that had once been a cemetery. Though the firm hired to run soil tests on the proposed site certified the location as suitable for building, they were shortly thereafter proved wrong once the facility erected there began to sink.”
While the weight of the contents may or may not impact integrity, what can be proven to have an effect is the foundation on which a building is built. Scripture tells us that the old man is dead (Romans 6:6-8), yet often our lives are built on the memories, habits, and abilities of our old self which has been laid to rest. In order for the new to come and rise and stand, a stronger foundation must be the starting point. If we are going to expect ourselves to be able to withstand the weight of the books, we can’t build our library on a cemetery.
Once a firm foundation has begun, we can start adding the weight. The weight of our choices, the weight of the burdens of those we love, the weight of the world around us. We pile a lot of weight on our foundation. Sometimes, it can start to feel like we are sinking under the pressure of it all. How in the world are we supposed to keep all this up?
Well, we aren’t of this world (John 18:36)
The shelves holding our books are set on a firm foundation, then built of much stronger stuff than what this world has to offer. We first allow God to be our architect, as He is the author and finisher of our faith on which our burdens rest (Hebrews 12:2). Then, we steward our library well. We partner with God is maintaining our faith and foundation, taking the time to take an account of our own faith, building up ourselves. Finally, we not only build up others, but we allow them to build us up when the weight takes a toll.
This life is not intended to be built and maintained by a one man crew. With intentionality, we set our foundation on the Rock, we allow Him to be the architect of our faith, we care for the building He builds on that foundation, and we don’t try to do it all on our own or for our own.
In this, we will find the strength to stand. Not only for ourselves, but for others.
Lord, heal my foundation and strengthen my joists so that as more and more is layered on me, I will not sink. Allow me to be strong and able to hold anything that needs to stand on me because I first choose to stand on you. Amen.