What's in Your Hat? A reflection inspired by a question far more important than "What's in Your Wallet?"

You know the commercial. A celebrity smiles at the camera and asks, "What's in your wallet?"

The question is really about what you possess. Your purchasing power. Your rewards points. Your financial options.

But lately I've been wondering about a different question: What's in your hat?

Imagine for a moment that every person in the world was asked to write down their worries, fears, struggles, regrets, disappointments, and burdens on slips of paper. Then they toss them into one giant hat.

Health concerns. Financial troubles. Family drama. 
Broken relationships. Loneliness. Addictions. Grief. Anxiety. Dreams that never came true. Prayers that seem to go unanswered.

Everything goes into the hat. Then comes the challenge. You throw your own worries into the pile. Next, you're given a choice. You can reach into the hat and exchange your problems for someone else's.

Would you? At first glance, most of us probably would.

After all, we know our struggles intimately. We feel them every day. We know where they ache and how much they weigh. Meanwhile, everyone else appears to be doing just fine. Social media certainly makes it look that way.

But then you start pulling slips of paper from the hat. One person is caring for a spouse with dementia. Another is grieving the loss of a child. Someone else is facing a frightening medical diagnosis. A family is wondering how they'll pay next month's rent. A teenager is battling depression. A marriage is hanging by a thread. An elderly man is terrified of dying alone. A young woman is carrying guilt she's never shared with another soul.

Suddenly, your hand hesitates. You begin to realize something. The people you envied have burdens too. The people you judged have burdens too. The people who seem to have it all together have burdens too.

Everyone has something in the hat.

The old proverb suggests that if all humanity piled its troubles together, most of us would eventually choose our own burdens back. Not because they're easy, but because they're familiar. We know their shape. We know their history. We've learned, however imperfectly, how to carry them.

There is also something profoundly Christian hidden in this thought experiment. Jesus never promised a burden-free life. In fact, He acknowledged that trouble would come. Yet He also reminded us not to be consumed by worry and invited us to bring our burdens to Him.

Maybe the lesson isn't that our problems are smaller than everyone else's. The lesson, may be, is that every person we encounter is carrying something we cannot see.

The cashier. The teacher. The neighbor. The parishioner sitting three pews away. The person who just cut you off in traffic.

Everyone has something in the hat.

And if we remembered that more often, we might trade a little judgment for compassion, a little impatience for grace, and a little indifference for kindness.

So let me borrow a famous advertising slogan and give it a different purpose. Forget what's in your wallet. What's in your hat? After seeing what everyone else is carrying, would you really want to trade?  Or would you quietly reach back in, pull out your own burdens, and thank God for the strength you've already been given to carry them?

The people who appear to be carrying life the best are often carrying things you know nothing about. Before judging someone's attitude, choices, or struggles, remember: everyone has something in the hat.