Revelation 21:4

4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

In baseball, the batter who is warming up in the on-deck circle uses a weight on his bat to make it heavier, so that when he gets up to bat he can take that weight off, and make his swing feel much lighter. This concept is easy to understand. The batter willingly puts the weight on his bat because he wants the feeling of a lighter than normal bat when it is time to swing the bat for real. He doesn't complain how hard he has it with the weighted bat, he looks forward to his turn at the plate, and wants every advantage he can get.

In so many ways we who are Christians are in the on-deck circle in this world. No matter how strong our faith is, we all must carry to some degree the weight of sorrow, loss, physical discomfort, guilt, etc. We must use the weighted bat in this life. When we get to heaven the weight will come off and the bat will seem lighter than we can fathom. Maybe the analogy is simplistic, but I sure would like to be able to think like the batter in the on-deck circle as I swing life's weighted bat-- not dwelling on how heavy the bat is, but on how light it will feel when I get my turn at the plate.