There’s a saying in the bible about being ‘yoked equally’ with others. Earlier in the afternoon, I was thinking about this verse and had a few thoughts to share.
A yoke is used to connect two animals in order to pull a cart. If the animals aren’t similar in statue and capacity, the load can’t be pulled in a straight line.
The older I get, the more I’ve seen the concept apply to others in my life; it’s important to surround yourself with the people that can support you through the rough patches. More important is the person you are to others through thick and thin.
When I find myself going through a rough spot, Steve is the first person I think to call, because he’s equally yoked with many of my own experiences, trials, and attempts to get things right.
Today, he reminded me that most of our difficulties line not in the problem-at-hand, but in the flashbacks we experience when we encounter similar trials along our way.
“Aaron, sometimes we ‘split off’ parts of ourselves when we aren’t ready to handle them. These battles present themselves to us later when we’re ready to meet them.”
It makes a lot of sense that our trials ‘come back’ in different forms when we’re at the point in our lives where we can meet them with victory.
I suppose we all feel like an imposter at some point in our lives; afraid some highly-competent nemesis is going to unveil us for the unqualified, unprepared fraud we’ve painted ourselves to be.
Yet, this nemesis never appears and our problems seem to sort themselves out, one at a time.
It’s moments like this that I have found the importance of being ‘yoked’ properly to those around you. Some days, we’re there to support and bring the other up. Other days, they take the lead.
“Fruit grows in the valleys” and I’ve found the moments where I feel the least together that are the most abundant in their lessons.
Today, I’m thankful for another day forward.
Photo by Elijah Hail on Unsplash
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