Modern day parable

For my husband's 50th birthday, we've been surrounded by balloons! We blew up a bunch by ourselves, then we had some mylar and regular balloons inflated by helium.

I watched my kids keep the balloons we blew up in the air. Fine. I started the game, but I got tired, and watched. It takes a lot of effort to keep the balloon up in the air. Gravity does its job, and what goes up, comes back down.

The helium-inflated balloons stay up on their own. There's a difference between the mylar balloons and regular ones. After a couple of days, the regular balloons have started to sag to the ground, while the mylar ones, with thick skin, will probably stay in the air until August. Or until I pop them...

The balloons are like us, trying to stay in the air, trying to keep our spiritual life close to God. When we fill up with our own spirit, we can get in the air, but we come right back down. We get tired trying and trying to stay in the air. We watch mylar balloons stay and wonder what they do to stay afloat in the air.

What is the difference? A different kind of air. We need a different kind of Spirit to keep us going. That's what Yeshua means when he tells us that His burden is light and He will give us rest. I can't keep myself going without burning out. But when I allow the Spirit of God to fill my life, I won't get burned out.

So be the balloon filled with helium.