Carrying the Most Valuable Load of All

We are with extended family in the Blue Ridge Mountains celebrating my in laws' fiftieth wedding anniversary. Praise God!

I experienced a useful reflection this morning . . . 

In my early twenties, I was an accomplished hiker. Most weekends, I loaded up a backpack (as in a true backpacker's pack, not a l'il rucksack) to hike--by myself, loner that I am--five miles into the mountains and five miles back down out of them. I was training for real overnight hikes, so I would load up my backpack with hardcover books, steadily increasing the weight, till I could pack more than half my weight all day long on steep inclines. I was really strong and I was carrying useless hardcover books.

Just a few weeks ago, I was clearing out an old box of papers when I found a photo of myself on a mission trip to China. I'd converted to Protestantism and I went on a mission trip smuggling Bibles across various border check points. One time I got caught and taken into an interrogation area by Chinese soldiers with machine guns. So, I found this photo of my very skinny and younger self with my huge old backpack on my back, a rucksack on my front, and dragging a suitcase, all full of more than 100 pounds of Bibles. Carrying Bibles was more valuable than carrying hardcover books.

Fast forward to this morning, when my daughters wanted very much to explore the area around our mountain cabin even before breakfast. I had the baby on my back (my "backpack"), the four-year-old running ahead, and the whimpering two-year-old in my arms because she discovered she needed to have worn socks to keep the dirt out of her shoes. I was breathing hard as we walked back up a very steep trail to the house and I calculated that I was carrying fifty pounds of children (and let's not calculate the amount of "baby weight" I am still hauling around on this frame six months postpartum).

And I realized I am carrying the most valuable weight of all now.

Thank you, God.