A Mom is working in her family's garden when she digs up some heavy rocks. As she struggles to get them out of the way, her daughter shows up. "Here Mommy, let me take those!" she says, so the mom gives them to her. The problem is, the girl has no idea what to do with the rocks. So she just keeps carrying them. In the days that come, she starts looking for more rocks in her family's garden, and picks up any that she finds. She puts them in a big bag, and everywhere she goes, the bag of rocks goes. The other children notice and think it is strange, but they can't figure out why she would want to carry rocks around all day. They run and play, but she can't do it with them, because her bag of rocks is exhausting. She can barely find the energy to eat and do her chores.
She gets strong, tanned arms and a faraway look in her eyes, and the ladies in the village start to notice her. They say, "Poor little girl, she has to carry all those rocks all the time. She never gets a break. But look how strong of a woman she is becoming! Wow!" She hears them, and starts whispering them to herself.... "I am strong. I am strong. This bag of rocks makes me strong." She looks for other people who are having trouble with their gardens. Soon she is adding their rocks to her family's rocks and her bag of rocks is so full she can barely drag it down the street. But she says to herself..."Don't worry. You will get stronger. You can do this. You can't give these people's rocks back to them, they are yours to carry now."
One day she is feeling reckless and leaves her bag of rocks sitting in the middle of the street while she goes for a swim in the creek. She knows she used to like swimming, but that was before she was grown up and strong and carried around rocks. All the other children were having fun, but she couldn't seem to get into it. So all that was left to do was go back to her rocks. As she left, she shook her head. How immature those children were, wasting their time when there were rocks to carry around!
What this little girl needs is Jesus. She needs to see Him, waiting with His arms open, to take all the rocks, bag and all, so that she can never see them or pick them up again. She needs to believe Him when He tells her that she is not helping anyone by carrying their rocks. They aren't asking her to carry them. The rocks don't need to be carried at all. By anyone. Least of all by a little girl. She needs to give him every single one of those rocks and be free to do what he made her to do. Any since she has carried rocks for a long time, there will be times when she picks up more, out of habit. But each time, Jesus will take them as soon as she is ready to hand them over. And she will be free and beautiful... Still strong, but not strong because of pain, but strong and joyful, because she is finally doing what He made her to do.