The Weight of the World

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl. She loved to sing and dance and play pretend. She imagined having tea parties with little pieces of cake at each place. Cake was her special favorite. Cake meant something very good was about to happen. It was present at birthdays, holidays, weddings, graduations, and other special occasions. Cake was present wherever people were happy. She started to wonder if cake made people happy.

As she grew, she became busy. There was less time to devote to singing and dancing and playing pretend. Much of her time was spent sitting still. Sitting still was very difficult for her, since she much preferred running and jumping and sliding down slides. She decided she should reward herself for enduring her long hours of sitting still. She ate a little piece of cake. This little piece of cake reminded her of all of the happiness from all of the special occasions she had spent in the time before she became busy.

Time passed, and she added cake to her routine. She ate cake when she read her books. She ate cake when she said her prayers. She ate cake when she returned home from work. She ate cake when she returned home from church. She ate cake in the quiet of her room. She ate cake while out with friends. She ate cake when she visited family. Cake was the constant in her ever-changing life.

Then one day, the little girl looked in the mirror. The person who looked back at her was not the little girl she remembered, but a rather plump young woman who tired easily and no longer enjoyed singing and dancing and playing pretend. She did not enjoy running and jumping and sliding down slides. At this point in her life, she did not even like cake. Nothing was right. Everything was wrong. The person in the mirror had no answers for her. It was time to go to church.

She found that it was time for her give up her idea of happiness to the Lord. He was her King. He could supply her with the love and happiness for which she longed. The only bread she needed was the Bread of Life. She committed to the journey. She felt she had nothing left to lose and everything to gain.

She traded her cake for apples, her grains for leafy greens, her starches for meats, and offered it all up to the Lord. She began a fast of one meal a day and two cups of coffee with local honey and cream. She traded her soda for water and drank enough to feel full. She no longer felt weighed down by life or by circumstance. She began to sing again and dance and play pretend.

Those around her asked what her secret was. Her secret was simple. Her secret was God.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. John 6:35