Burdens light?

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11: 28-30

So today was one of those days when just waking up was a task! I was lazy and tired and still had so much to do. I dragged myself out of bed, fake excited that it was the weekend. I did my chores - cooked, cleaned, washed clothes. I glared at my watch - stupid time was not headed anywhere! I was feeling so lousy! After finishing my chores and whiling away as much time as I could, I decided to go for a walk. To make my walk more productive, I decided I’d walk down to Walmart and do some grocery shopping. So I wore an empty backpack and set out on my journey.

As I walked on the streets of Lynchburg, I looked around, enjoyed every bit of the changing colors of the Fall leaves, the cool breeze on my face, and the excruciating pain of a good workout! But there was one thing that made me feel very uncomfortable! The stupid empty backpack just didn’t seem right! And I thought to myself, if this is the case with an empty backpack, what am I going to do when I have the groceries in and I need to walk back home? Ugh! I brought this on myself, I had to do it. 

I reached Walmart, bought the stuff I needed, filled my backpack and began the dreaded journey back home. You know what though? The journey wasn’t stressful at all. I found that the weight in my bag ensured I was balanced and I could walk with ease.

As I thought about what I just learnt, I had a whole new perspective of what the Lord means when He says in His word, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So often we crib and cry over the  burdens we bear, the baggage we carry along life’s journey and we shout out and ask, “Why Lord? Why?”, does it ever occur to us that it probably is so we have balance in our lives; so the journey would in fact be comfortable? I noticed that as I carried my heavy bag, the weight didn’t bog me down. It was just right. What it did do was help me get a better work out. Have we considered that’s exactly what our burdens do to our faith? How else do we move from being ‘lukewarm’ to being on ‘fire’? 

The truth is, God’s never going to give us more than we can bear. Not one bit more. If you’re burdened, it’s because you have the strength to deal with it. God’s got that confidence in us. How and why? I’ll never know! But this I know, when I’m weary and feel beaten down by life’s burdens, God says, “come to me, I will give you rest” and that’s exactly what I plan to do!

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