What Was Built to Hold

Barns are not built for show.

They are built to hold.

Feed.

Tools.

Harvest.

Animals brought in from weather.

They stand in wide fields where wind has nothing to interrupt it.

Bright against long distances.

Useful in every season.

Many of us learned to measure ourselves by how pleasant we look.

How impressive we seem.

How easily we fit into rooms.

Shrinking grows where people believe they must be ornamental.

Decorative.

Approved at a distance.

But Christ does not build people as scenery.

He builds them as structures.

Capable of shelter.

Capable of carrying weight.

Capable of storing what will be needed later.

Stopping shrinking sometimes looks like honoring what you were made to hold.

The responsibilities you carry.

The tenderness you protect.

The wisdom gathered through long seasons.

There are times when you underestimate your own capacity.

When fatigue makes you forget what you’ve survived.

When you see only chipped paint instead of enduring beams.

Jesus knows what you were constructed for.

He does not confuse wear with weakness.

He trusts what He formed.

If today all you can manage is to keep standing where God placed you, that is faith.

If you honor your strength instead of hiding it, that is obedience.

If you allow yourself to be useful without apologizing for it, that is healing.

You were built to hold more life than you realize.