For years I have enjoyed making a trip to New York every year. I’ve loved visiting the museums, the restaurants, seeing plays on Broadway and meeting new friends.
On every trip I always wind up at Rockefeller Center. Within the International Building’s Courtyard is the gigantic stature of Atlas, a beautifully proportioned man who, with all of his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders.
There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden of the world. I always stand there in awe. I certainly don’t have Atlas’ muscles or physical strength. But I have to admit that too often I try to carry the burdens and the problems of the world on my shoulders.
After I reflect and meditate for a good while on Atlas and his carrying the world, then I walk across Fifth Avenue and go into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I wander behind the main altar to a little shrine. There the boy Jesus, maybe eight or nine years old, and with no effort at all, is holding the world in one hand.
I stand there for a long while and I realize that I have a choice to make in my life. I can try to carry the world and all of its problems on my shoulders like Atlas. Or I can say, “Jesus, once again I give up. Jesus, here’s my life. I give you my world! I give you the whole world! Keep showing me what part of the world you want me to carry in my hand and not on my shoulders!”
Thanks to Winston Chen for the photo.
What choices do YOU make with all the problems YOU have in YOUR life? Do all the problems in the world seem to overwhelm YOU? Do talk to Jesus about it because he is the one who holds the world in his hand.
WHEN YOU GIVE YOUR PROBLEMS TO JESUS, IT MAKES YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE SO MUCH BETTER!
You know someone who tries to do it all. Please share: www.TreatsfortheSoul.org.
