Popular Posts

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Chaucer's Backpack


I learned the hard way that a cup of flour does not weigh 8 ounces, but 4. A cup of sugar weighs 8. Those Christmas cookies I made for my prospective in-laws when I first was engaged to Don, did not raise any expectations of culinary delights to come. With twice the amount of flour needed, the ‘dough balls’ fell apart and tasted more like sawdust than buttery delicacies.

He married me anyway.

Not every burden carries the same weight. Some press more heavily on our shoulders, or hearts, than others. Some drag us down, while others ‘ain’t heavy’ because they are carried with love. When I see a young father, or mother, carrying a child on his/her shoulders, I know the weight of that child is not negligible, but the parent isn’t thinking of the weight but of the child that is so loved.

Banking and online issues are real burdens. People I carry in my heart are not.

Yet Jesus doesn’t expect, or even want, us to carry anything. He invites us to cast all our cares onto God, to get yoked up with Jesus and let him bear the weight. I love the invitation and the imagery; I’m not always so good at letting go.

Packing a back pack. Every item in needs to be weighed in my thoughts: is it going to be worth the pressure on my shoulders, over hill and down dale, or will I be ready to jettison it at the first opportunity? Tricky to know, given the vagaries of spring weather.

Chaucer probably only had one pair of shoes, and they wouldn’t have been cushioned and padded. Perhaps he spent more prep time thinking up cracking tales to tell along the way, tales that would entertain for centuries.

Hmmm.

No comments:

Post a Comment