Unburden Her

     to Karen

"And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years." Luke 13:11

We
We are
We are over
We are over with...

Seeing the woman bent over.
Knowing her being bent over impacts every part of her life.
Wondering if the woman in the story is done being bent over.
Knowing the woman in the story is done.

And...the woman shows up.

She is not sick.
She is burdened.
Bent over from burdens.
Eighteen years burdened.
Just as we are burdened 
with indifference
and apathy.
(How many dead as of today?  360k?  And counting...)

Eighteen years.
Eighteen years crippled.
Eighteen years bowed down.
    (Burdens are heavy.)

(We don't know how old she is.)
Eighteen years of her best years?
Eighteen years from birth?
Eighteen years after all her children are gone?

Eighteen years of hoping to return to normal.
Eighteen years the woman is coming.
Eighteen years to move from the margins to the center.
Eighteen years of bearing the crippling spirit.
Eighteen years of days wondering, Is this my done day.
No, but still eighteen years looking for what will make it right.

Eighteen years of leaders getting the rules right.
Eighteen years of every people getting the rules right.
Eighteen years of her closest relations getting the rules right.
Eighteen years of God making the rules right.

Eighteen years of everyone getting the relationship wrong.

Eighteen years of suffering through her freedom.
Eighteen years of suffering from our thraldom.

Until.
She appears.
Burdened.

Center.
Center this woman.
Center this spirit-crippled woman.
Center this burdened woman.

Unburden.
Unburden her.
Unburden your self.