day 305: Big Shoulders

Any job that we do well comes with responsibility and accountability. I can't think of any job where something is not expected from the person doing the job. Even if the work is just sitting around at a desk (like a security guard), the person doing the job has to show up at the assigned time and stay through the scheduled work time. And while there are many jobs where at the end of the day, the work is left at the workplace, even that work can have us at the end of the day or into the night, rethinking the day and playing back what we did to make sure we didn't mess up or forget something. As we gain more responsibility, we take on more and more of the burden that comes with that responsibility. We even talk about it openly at work when we say, "to do that job you have to have big and wide shoulders". This comes from the story and image of Atlas holding up the globe on his shoulders. Some days it feels just like that and that weight can feel overwhelming. On those days we are best reminded of what Jesus came to take upon His shoulders. Hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote that a child would be born and he would not only bear the weight of the lives and souls of each of us, but He would also be the bearer of all that we know. In Isaiah 9:6 we read these words that are so familiar to us at this time of year;

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

As a child born into the world, Jesus was given the government of our world to rest squarely on His shoulders. As you think about the pressures, the stress, the problems, the challenges, the needs of others and the obstacles in front of you, don't forget to rejoice that God gave us His Son who has already taken all of the biggest and toughest challenges on His shoulders for us. And what He is asking from us daily, is to just keep loading Him up. His shoulders are big enough for us to give all that we have to Him. He never shrugs and He never tires. He holds it all up, for us. So as we think about the baby Jesus over the next week plus and we celebrate His birth, let's also remember that this little baby took it all for us, gave His all for us, and waits on us to give Him more. There is nothing we should let sit on our own shoulders that distracts or detracts from us accepting the gift of His love and living the abundant life that He wants us to have.

Reference: Isaiah 9:6 (New Living Testament)