The Weight We Carry

I spent this morning trying to fix a loose shelf in my kitchen. It was a small, annoying task that I had been putting off for weeks. As I held the heavy wood in place, waiting for the glue to set, my arms started to shake. It was such a simple thing, yet I felt the full pressure of the object, realizing how much effort it takes just to keep things from falling apart. We spend so much of our lives propping things up—our homes, our schedules, the expectations of people we love. We rarely stop to ask if the structure is worth the strain, or if we are simply holding up the weight because we don’t know how to let go. Sometimes, the hardest part isn’t the lifting itself, but the quiet, steady endurance required to stay in one position while the world moves around you. Does it ever feel like you are the only thing keeping your own little world from collapsing?

Leanne Lindsay has captured this feeling perfectly in her image titled Holding up the World. It is a beautiful reminder of the strength we find in the most unexpected places. What does this image stir up in you?