Carrying the Weight

The next few days, I will be typing excerpts of a book entitled "Give it All to Him" by Max Lucado.

 

This chapter is called "Carrying the Weight"

"The woman flops down on the bench and drops her trash bag between her feet. With elbows on knees and cheeks in hands, she stares at the side walk. Everything aches. Back. Legs. Neck. Her shoulder is stiff and her hands raw. All because of the sack.

 

Oh to be rid of this garbage.

 

Unbroken clouds form a gray ceiling, gray with a thousand sorrows. Soot-stained buildings cast long shadows, darkening passageways and the people in them. Drizzle chills the air and muddies the rivulets of the street gutters. The woman collects her jacket. A passing car drenches the sack and splashes her jeans. She doesn't move. Too tired.

 

Her memories of life without the trash are fuzzy. As a child maybe? her back was straighter, her walk quicker...or was it a dream? She doesn't know for sure.

 

A second car. This one stops and parks. A man steps out. She watches his shoes sink in the slush. From the car he pulls out a trash bag, lumpy with litter. He drapes it over his shoulder and curses the weight.

 

Neither of them speaks. Who knows if he noticed her. His face seems young, younger tha his stooped back. In moments he is gone. Her gaze returns to the pavement.

 

She never looks at her trash. Early on she did. But what she saw repulsed her, so she's kept the sack closed ever since.

 

What else can she do? Give it to someone? All have their own."

 

All 5 chapters start out with a story about a woman with a trash bag. The story continues every chapter, going a little further than before. 

 

This chapter talks about how we never know how we accumulate the trash. It just shows up. Everyone has one, but no one knows how it came to us.

It talks about the ship the Pelicano. Since 1986 it's been an unwanted ship. The problem is not the boat, ownership, or crew. So what is the problem? The Pelicano is full of trash. In 1986, Philadelphia's municipal workers went on strike and the trash piled up.

 

It's interesting how Max Lucado compares everyday things to trash in our lives. Anger. Guilt. Pessimism. Bitterness. Bigotry. Anxiety. Deceit. Impatience. It all piles up. It really does.

 

Why do we let those things pile up? I have no answer.

 

I carry my own bag of trash. I carry anger, regret, and a little bit of guilt. Why can't I "Give it All to Him"? I feel like I can take it on myself. I feel as if I can handle everything. But cruel reality says otherwise. I can't handle it. Nothing is going the way I hoped it would.

 

I want to "Give it All to Him". How do I just let it go? "Here's my trash, Lord". "I'm giving it to you". Seems lame...but it works, I think. Maybe. Hopefully.

 

Hoping,

katie