Often, but especially over the past few days, I have felt
the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It tends to be not because my
life is bad – indeed, I feel I have been blessed beyond measure – but the
turmoil and suffering of the world around me weighs heavily upon me. Sometimes it is guilt that I am
flitting about my comfortable life while others do not have that luxury (not
that I don’t have problems, but they often seem so small in the face of issues
like famine, unemployment, terminal illnesses, etc.), sometimes it is plain and
simple empathy, or sometimes it is a feeling of helplessness that nothing I can
do will make a dent in the strife… it’s just a drop of freshwater in the ocean. And certainly there is the frightening
realization that it is only a matter of time before the badness I see around me
hits closer to home.
As my heart ached, I considered
that I cannot possibly be the only one despairing over these things, and I
wondered how I might share some comfort with anyone else who feels the way I
do. Certainly, we childfree can take some
comfort in the fact that we are not forcing another person into such an
existence (“better…is he who has not
yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.” Ecc.
4:3). But beyond that, we are offered a little hope for ourselves – not that
things will get better here, but that there is something more powerful than this
world: “In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Take heart.
