“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

The above is one of my favorite quotes. It serves as a reminder to me, one I need daily, that the people around me are likely dealing with and enduring hard and painful trials that may not be known or be visible to me, but are nonetheless very real. If truth be told, we are each one “walking wounded” through this world and through this life. Sometimes our battles get the better of us and our burdens become unbearable. Must be why Paul said in his letter to the churches in Galatia –

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

Good advice but how do I live this out on a daily basis? What about when my own burdens are so heavy that I fear I will fall beneath their weight, unsure if I have the strength to get up again and move forward. There are days when my burdens threaten to bury me alive. How then can I possibly bear someone else’s burdens in addition to my own? And yet, that’s exactly what my Heavenly Father asks of me, to enter into other people’s lives in this meaningful way. Paul says in Romans –

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)

Currently, it seems everyone I know is fighting a hard battle, and I feel the weight of each struggle as if it is my own. Some are literally fighting for their lives. And yet, as I join my friends in bearing their burdens, somehow my own burdens don’t overwhelm me after all, but rather they seem to take a back seat as I make room on my shoulders for someone else’s load. I am happy to sit with them, to let them know that they are not alone and to bear their burdens with them in prayer to God. Maybe, that’s why you and I are instructed to “bear one another’s burdens” – because a burden that is too heavy for one person, is manageable when it is shared. These words confirm that this is so –

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

But if I continue to share in my friends’ burdens, how will I not eventually be buried alive under the sheer weight of them all? It is because I have Someone who bears my burdens, Someone who invites me to unburden myself saying –

“Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

My Heavenly Father is willing and able to take the load from my shoulders and from yours, and to replace it with what He has to offer to me and to you, dear readers. Jesus’s invitation to those of us who are weary and worn out from carrying our own heavy loads daily is this –

“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)

That’s a really good offer. Actually, there has never been a better one. I’d be foolish not to take Jesus up on such a generous invitation. It’s a standing invitation, an open invitation, an invitation available to anyone who is ready to let go of all they carry with them through life that weighs them down and holds them back, and in exchange receive what God wants to give each one of us – an easy yoke and a much lighter burden. It’s an invitation I can hardly refuse.

There is no reason for me to continue to live buried alive under the weight of the world’s many burdens and troubles. My Heavenly Father is offering me relief. And because He bears my burdens, He enables me to share in the burdens of those around me who are suffering. This business of burden bearing with others becomes both a privilege and a joy. I am able to do this for others because my Heavenly Father does this every day for me. The psalmist affirms this saying –

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19)

and because God Himself bears my burdens, I am not overwhelmed, I am not buried alive – rather I am able to obey His instruction to bear the burdens of others just as He daily bears my burdens for me.

sincerely, Grace Day