In last night’s episode of Joan of Arcadia called “Friday Night”, her troubled friend Judith teaches Joan how to juggle. Near the end of the show after a very emotional scene, God asks Joan a metaphorical riddle:
God: Did you ever hear the riddle about the man, his boxes, and the bridge?
A man had three boxes. Each box weighed five pounds. The man weighed a hundred and ninety. The bridge could only support two hundred. How did the man make it across the bridge with all of his boxes?
Joan: He juggles! Yes, I get it. He keeps one box in the air the whole time. But…
God: The bridge is life. The boxes hold your feelings, your love, your joy, your pain, your loss. Everyone is crossing a bridge with more weight than they can bear. So, you juggle.
God then takes these three blue glow-balls from Joan and begins to juggle. After a moment, he tosses them, one by one, to Joan to juggle. And she does…