A Piggyback Ride

I was on a morning walk when I spied this tree and it stopped me in my tracks. It looks like one tree is giving the other a piggyback ride. The rider doesn’t look weak or sick or debilitated, on the contrary, it appears to be just as vital and strong as the one carrying it. But looks can be deceiving.

When life gets challenging and downright overwhelming, how easy is it for you to admit that you need help? It doesn’t come easy for me. I don’t like to appear needy or dependent. Maybe it’s my pride or my ego, but I like to think I can handle things. When I did allow my vulnerability to show and reached out in the past, people seemed so surprised. I would often hear, “You just seem to have it all together.”

Looks can be deceiving.

How hard we try to look like we have it all together. All that trying becomes exhausting. Why is it so hard to be vulnerable? For me, it feels like defeat when I go belly-up and admit I can’t handle something, or that I am scared, or that I just don’t know what to do. It sounds too much like what a child would do and I’m supposed to be a grown-up. Or am I?

How many times, in Scripture, we hear Jesus say that we need to become more like children.  

In the gospel of Matthew, when the apostles asked Jesus “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus replied, “Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In the gospel of Luke, when the crowds were gathering and there were many children around Jesus, the apostles rebuked the crowd. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the children come to me and do not prevent them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Jesus valued humility and trust. Young children are full of both. Especially humility.

Admitting we can’t handle it all takes humility, childlike humility, and childlike trust that when we admit we need help, the help will be there. It’s in that humility and trust that we meet God. He’s there to hike us up on his back and carry us for as long as we need.

You can work hard to try and appear strong and capable and self-sufficient all the time, but who are you trying to kid? Everyone needs a piggyback ride some time.

Joan