Colored by weights, not numbers

We can often look at other people and think that others have it so much better. Perhaps less often, we perceive glimpses of poorer societies and we think that others have it so much worse. Even in our own lives, the intensity of difficulty can vary dramatically. Sometimes we can feel as free and happy as a free and happy bird flying through the air, and yet at other times we feel loaded down like a heavy load, low on energy or motivation. Why do these weights of life vary so much, in variety and in strength?

There are lots of different uses for weights. Whenever we take a balloon ride, we see the balloon pilot add and remove weights in order to manage how high the balloon goes. When we build trucks or elevators, recall that we always use weights to test the load capacity before we sell them. Note that each time we turn in the handfuls of gold jewelry we have lying around for cash, they use weights to measure the value of the gold. Like Goku in Dragon Ball Z, whenever we need to train to be strong enough to save the world, we wear heavy weights.

Perhaps the various weights in our lives work in similar ways and for similar reasons. Certainly if we coasted through life without any trials, we would lose sight of the ground. Despite the magnificent view, we would begin to run out of oxygen and we would be neglecting our earthly lives and responsibilities. Also, death, even a peaceful sleepy one, would not be cool.

When we face challenges, we can learn what things we can handle and what we can't. If God designed us for site-to-site lawn equipment transport, we don't want to spend our time trying to haul people up the MEEM building. We also want to know how much lawn equipment we can carry before we try it. Thus weights can be a good test, letting us know important information about ourselves before we set out for real jobs.

Measuring with weights helps us to know the value of things. When put on the scale, it turns out that all the gold we have been hoarding is fake and worthless. The jeweler tells us that we've been looking at the wrong things to find true wealth. When we finally let God set us on the scale, we realize that it is in us that God places the greatest value, so much that He is willing to offer His own Son for us.

Finally, weights make us stronger. Although it can be hard work to lug around such heavy burdens and continue with our daily tasks at the same rate, when challenges reach a high point, those weights can be removed and suddenly we will have the strength and energy and power to handle the worst of what is thrown at us. God specifically says that we will never face anything we can't handle, and the weights of this world are important tools at our disposal.

One of the easiest things to do in this world is compare our lives with others. There is a reason that this is so easy, and that is because it is so worthless. As time passes, our weights change and shift. We can never truly understand the weights of others, because they are always different from our own. Using numbers just doesn't work. The whole system of "why this happens to this person and why this doesn't happen to this person" is much more difficult to comprehend. We can get hints by using analogies that God provides us, but ultimately we need to leave the heavy work to God, trusting that He knows exactly what is going on.