People who know me, will know that I don’t drive and I never have. Last Saturday, I was walking to my nearby supermarket, dragging my trolley behind me. I walk alongside the river, so it’s a nice walk with swans and ducks to entertain me but this morning it was quite damp and foggy in the air. As I approach the store, I have to go up a flight of rather deep steep concrete steps. Having short stocky little legs, I do struggle a bit with stairs. So, I set to grabbing the handrail with one hand, slowly dragging the trolley behind me as I ascended. Ker plonk, ker plonk.
Suddenly I felt the weight lift and everything became easier. I turned to see a young male runner had taken the bottom of the trolley. Such a small unsolicited act but at that moment, it meant so much. I don’t know who he was, I doubt I’ll ever encounter him again. When I thanked him, he just raised a hand, said ‘No problem!’ and was off on his way.
During the week, I looked out for other times when people took the weight for me – some small act of kindness or cheerful word. What a challenge to do the same for others. And, of course, at this time of year especially, thinking of Jesus, and how He took all the weight of all our sins off us for all time. Amazing Lord!