Chrystal Hurst uses a backpack-and-bricks metaphor to show how carrying others' problems prevents them from growing. Her mother's overstuffed purse taught her that returning items to their owners teaches responsibility. Codependency keeps both people stuck, so surrender the outcome and let them develop the strength they have.
Imagine that you're carrying a backpack full of bricks and the bricks represent everyone else's problems. Control is, if I carry them, then at least I know that they're being carried. What happens if these bricks are too heavy for someone else? Casting looks like taking the bricks out and saying, these are not my bricks to carry, and Lord, you're gonna have to do something with this. Or these are their bricks to carry, but why is it in my backpack? Listen, when we would go on vacation, my mom would always have a big purse, and that meant that if we had little things, you know, a book or one our brothers used to have a Rubik's Cube. We would take it and then we wouldn't want to carry it, so we would throw all of our little things in her purse. And she would look at us sometimes and be like, y'all, get your stuff. Like, my bag is too heavy. She was like, you brought this with you, and that means it's not my job to carry it. This is yours to carry. And often, if we don't give back to other people their bricks, give back to other people the things that they're supposed to carry, they actually never learn to build the strength that they need to carry what God gave them. Codependency will have you trying to control or fix other people to ease your own discomfort, but your freedom lies in your surrendering outcomes for yourself and other people to the Lord.
