Dear Friends,
I’m guessing you have either been to New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza or you’ve watched
NBC television news being broadcast from there. The plaza is a prominent venue for all sorts of gatherings and special events…concerts, ice skating, Christmas tree lighting, Saturday Night Live, works of art, etc.
Dominating the plaza is the massive bronze statue of Atlas….bent over and straining under the weight of the world that is on his shoulders. Greek mythology has it that when Atlas
challenged Zeus, the god over all other gods, and was defeated, this was Atlas’s punishment
for his part in the uprising.
Directly across from the plaza and in the line of sight of Atlas is one of New York’s most visited attractions, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As visitors exit the sanctuary of St Patrick’s, they cannot help but feel the dissonance…the sense of peace and freedom they have just experienced in a place of worship; then directly in front of them the heaviness of life represented by Atlas bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders.
God knows we live in this place of two realities. One in a world that is out of synch, broken
and out of sorts. The other reality, in a place where forgiveness, faith, and courage overcome. We belong to a God who has borne the consequences of our own uprisings and sets us free from being overcome by the cares of the world.
“He personally bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be free from the
consequences of sin (our uprisings) and live for what is right.” 1 Peter 2:24
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
God has this…so that we can too.
Enjoy this day.
~Wynn