More Than We Can Bear?

Taf and I had one of those conversations. She remarked how it is that well-meaning people share ideas that get passed along from one generation to the next. We even forget their source. Taf and I laughed..most of the sage little quotes we pass along and attribute to "god" are Ben Franklin originals...such as "cleanliness is next to godliness". One popular phrase is "we are never given more than we can bear". We are told that it is in the Bible...somewhere. But is it really scripture? Do we find that "truth" in God's Word? We read in the Bible that we are to bear one another's burdens....and that there is no "temptation" that can overtake us without there being a way of escape..but I cant seem to find that other phrase there.

Are there burdens too heavy...more than we can carry? Is losing ones entire family in a fire more than one can bear? Is losing a child to disease, to kidnapping...to sexual abuse...more than one can bear? Is being forced to be a child soldier in Uganda more than one child can bear? Is cancer? Is a stroke? Is losing a spouse to divorce....watching a family unravel?

For the most part, I believe life is more than we can bear. I am not even sure we should attempt it...much less think that we are able. I am thinking that when we meet the "unbearable" .....we come face to face with the truth of ourselves...of life....and that is that it is out of our control.

A man I know is facing the death...slow, agonizing death...of his wife. His first inclination was to "manage" it......to somehow secure the outcome and everything in between. He reacted in anger, blame........more controlling...until, at last, he gave in to what he couldnt change...and began to "lean" on others.

Maybe we are "supposed" to experience "more than we can bear", rather than enduring or escaping.. Maybe, just maybe, it is then that we let ourselves be "held". When we finish managing...when we lay, face down....from the sheer exhaustion of struggling ......maybe it is then that we know we are being carried.

Taf's stroke was more than I could bear.......certainly more than she could bear....and more than her precious family could bear. I imagined I had lost my oldest friend....and with her I felt a part of me leaving...a part of who I am and a part of the history that defines my life. My grief was overwhelming.

We watched as she was "held"...as she was carried from that dark, seemingly hopeless, unbearable place.......to light, to wholeness.......to healing. Others were strewn along her path to assist with the "bearing"....to literally hold her up...physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

It was "way more" than she could bear....He "allowed" her more than she could bear. It is curious how that works....because in her weakness....in her inability to bear the burden....she became strong...stronger than I have ever known her.

Just look at her now.......