Burdens- a time to cast & a time to bear

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After sharing my thoughts in “Casting your Burdens”, I continued considering and pondering further. I realized there are some burdens that we cannot cast away, but that the L0rd must help us bear them. Some of these would include:

  • Caring for an Alzheimer parent
  • Caring for a handicapped child
  • Watching parents grow older and coming to end of life
  • Watching loved ones die
  • Combatting a debilitating disease
  • Having been told you or a loved one has cancer

I think it is these kinds of burdens that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”.

I was thinking of the story that someone shared with me that sometimes the burdens we carry are likened to someone pulling a little red wagon filled with rocks. Along the way of life we have picked up worry,  anxiety, sin, many “what if’s”, many fears, and they are rocks that we have piled little by little into our wagon. The wagon is getting heavier and heavier to pull but the rocks are not burdens the Lord has given us. For He says His burden is light. These are the burdens in our little red wagon that we want to cast away.

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This picture is a reminder of the burdens that we are to allow the Lord to help us bear. And the little wagon is a reminder to think about the rocks and burdens we are carrying that we really do not need to. These could include:

  • Worrying about what will happen next year
  • Being anxious about growing older
  • Feeling sad because someone has hurt your feelings
  • Angry with a family member
  • Being depressed because you are too thin, too fat, not as pretty as your sister, or having bad skin
  • Carrying the burden of past sin

The following verse speak about “casting” our burdens:

  • Romans 13:12
  • 1 John 4:18
  • 1 Peter 5:7
  • Galations 6:2

Lord, give us the wisdom to know when to cast our burdens and when to have you help us hear them.