Weight of a Dodo

‍I was alone in my room, burdened by my situation. I was failing every subject. I was as popular as the Monday morning school bell. But what should I have expected…wasn’t this the life of a dodo? I had no flight to escape my island of problems.

‍These thoughts continued day after day as my situation worsened, until one afternoon my mother approached me. Ashamed of my grades, I had flawlessly hidden my report card on a shelf.  Spoiler alert—she found it! (Of course she did. Don’t hide things from Mom.)

‍I had expected she was going to scold me. Ground me from school—please! “Do you want help?” she asked, holding the report card in her hand. I glanced into her eyes. She had a tenderness only a loving mother could carry. I quickly looked away. Help? Would it even matter?

‍My eyes began to tear. I didn’t want to cry in front of her. I’m a grown man, not some sniveling child… but the pain of failure; being bullied every day. This flightless dodo was overburdened by the weight of his problems. I responded with a gentle nod. She hugged me tightly as I cried on her shoulder.

‍“It’s going to be hard,” she said. I doubted her. How could it be more difficult than this? I’m crying on your shoulder like a sniveling child. The truth was, yes, I was still a child. A scared dodo who wanted to fly like the other eagles. “Your grandmother is going to help too. We have you scheduled for testing next week.”

The tears suddenly stopped as my eyes widened. I didn’t want to hear that. The cold, calculated gaze of the psychologist still haunted me. My earlier test results lingered in the back of my mind: below average, behind, no strengths. As a child I was pushed into testing. This time, the dodo walked in on his own.

“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:30