The Weight You Cannot Put Down

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, there is a moment near the end of the long journey to Mount Doom that has stayed with readers for generations. Frodo Baggins, exhausted beyond measure, collapses on the ashen slopes. The Ring has grown so heavy around his neck that he can barely crawl. He has nothing left. And it is there that his faithful companion Samwise Gamgee speaks one of the most moving lines in all of literature: "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you."

Sam hoists Frodo onto his back and climbs.

What Tolkien understood — as a man who survived the trenches of the Somme and buried most of his closest friends — is that perseverance is rarely a solo act. We were never meant to white-knuckle our way through suffering alone. The Apostle Paul told the Galatians to "carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." That is exactly what Sam does on the mountain.

Some of you are carrying a weight right now that has brought you to your knees. You cannot put it down, and you cannot go on. But the God who walks beside you has not run out of strength. He is the One who says through Isaiah, "I will carry you; I have made you, and I will bear you." The Almighty does not grow weary. And sometimes, He carries you through the hands of the person sitting next to you.