Carrying Burdens

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything."

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night. 

Remember to put the glass down!

I read this the other day on Facebook, and I began to think about all of the stresses and burdens I carry around each day, all the things that weigh me down and drain me of my joy. Mental burdens, emotional burdens, physical burdens, and even spiritual burdens filled my mind. The more I thought of them, the heavier they seemed to be laid on my shoulders. I was overwhelmed by the list of burdens that I had allowed to stay in my life within the first few minutes of thinking.

• anxiety
• rejection
• heartbreak 
• death of loved ones
• sin
• jealousy
• fear

The list could go on, but those are just a few of the most prominent burdens in my life. I have held on to them unknowingly, pushed them to the side in denial, watched them grow bigger as time passed, and ultimately noticed them weighing my life down and stealing my joy. Upon the recognition of the numerous burdens I had been holding on to, I was reminded in Psalms that those burdens do not have any power over me when I lay them at the cross. God is going to sustain me. He is going to take care of me and not let me fall. However, I had one condition; I had to give my burdens to The Lord. 

I don't know about you, but I struggle with that. I have a hard time "casting my burdens" onto Christ. I hate knowing that I've failed Him by letting so many burdens creep into my life, and I feel ashamed to ask "Can you take these from me?" The way I feel when I have to ask Christ to take my burdens is almost as bad as how I feel just carrying them on my own.

 Well today, I had a realization as I read Matthew 11:28-30.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I realized that after I acknowledge my burdens and notice what they are doing to me, I'm not suppose to just say, "Hey God, can you take these off my back now?" I'm not suppose to just dump them on Him through a prayer and go on with my life. That's honestly what I had always thought; it made me feel so guilty, so I just kept letting them pile high in my life. But as I read those verses in Matthew I paid special attention to verse 29 and 30, "Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." 

God doesn't want us cast our burdens on Him and walk away. He wants us to acknowledge our need for Him and then learn from Him. He wants to put His yoke upon us and carry our burdens with us, and in order to do that we must stay in-step with Him. We don't just walk beside Him so we can have the burden removed; we walk beside Him to learn from Him and to give our WHOLE selves to Him (not just the burdens we carry). By walking alongside Christ our burdens are eventually lifted; and when more burdens come our way, we have the power to handle them appropriately. 

The dependence on Christ that we develop by walking in sync with Him and trusting Him to carry our burdens along our sides is beautiful. His strength and glory is made perfect through our weaknesses and dependency on Him. We were not created to be independent. We were created to depend on Him and to glorify Him through that dependency. So it's safe to say that means to depend on God is to honor Him, and to live independently of Him would be to dishonor Him. 

I want to honor God, don't you?