The box arrived with its well known symbol. The curved arrow on the side was formed to look like a smile, and it certainly produced a smile on my face. But this box included extra signage. An orange sticker with five letters, one word that served to warn those who might pick it up – HEAVY. In that moment I was thankful my husband was at home when it arrived. He had already settled the box into the office by the time I arrived. So my task would simply be to count the contents and unload it.
Before opening the box, I already knew what was inside and had been excitedly awaiting its delivery. My mind drifted to the irony as I glanced over to the printer connected to my computer. I considered the paper that filled the tray. A single sheet could hardly be weighed. Yet before me was a box containing many pages, actually, many half pages. It was a box full of books, treasures for the mind and soul. And the messages printed on each page would be weighty or feather light with potential to lift the soul to greater heights, all dependent on how each reader might interpret the meanings.
Pondering the paper again, I thought of how insignificant one sheet of paper seems to be as it is held. A single sheet of paper is typically feather light, easily blown away with the slightest breeze. Then I considered that as we live our lives from moment to moment, often each moment seems insignificant. Yet joining one to another we find hours, days and years passing. It is not a new concept, yet it can be hard to grasp, that before long, we will find ourselves in the sunset of our years, much like a heavy box of books. One letter at a time, connected to another to form words, connected together to form a page, and many pages connected together to form a book – such a vivid picture of life.
So when our moments, days and years are added together, what will be the sum of their weight?
Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away …
Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:10, 12 niv
Whoever sows to please their flesh,
from the flesh will reap destruction;
whoever shows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest
if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:8-9 niv
A wicked person earns deceptive wages,
but the one who sows righteousness
reaps a sure reward.
Proverbs 11:18 niv
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