Skip to main content

The Burden is Light.


Do you know the maximum amount that can be carried by a human being?  When I look this up via google, I find that in the 1930s a man named Paul Anderson lifted 6,270 lbs and stood up with it on his shoulders.  To put that in perspective, that is about the weight of a limousine or SUV.  But, the heaviest amount carried by a human over any distance was Patrick Baboumian who carried 1,216 lbs. over ten yards.  That is the equivalent of carrying a fully grown grizzly bear or picking up one of the little two seater cars you see occasionally see around town and carrying them across a large room.  I can not even fathom either of these feats.

And yet every day, I meet people who are carrying around weights that are too heavy to bear.  Worried about all things imaginable, they seem to have the weight of the world on their shoulders.  Maybe its their past, maybe it is fear, maybe its their worries, but they often seemed crushed by the weight.  In a world that often feels so very hostile and challenging, it important to remember that when we follow Jesus, God does all of the heavy lifting.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells those who seek to follow him, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.”  Yet for most people, following Jesus seems challenging.  Many of us tend to focus on the burden of what we must take on or the challenge of what we must give up.  But, Jesus wants us to focus on the weight of the burden on our soul.  As we walk through this Lenten season I encourage you to give your burdens to God and let him have your load.  When you submit to his teaching and accept Jesus’ yoke the joy of being freed is beyond imagination.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now there is something you don’t see very often!

After the halfway point on my walk this morning, heading back towards home, I saw something you don’t see every day.   It was a mockingbird chasing a hawk.   The hawk was probably five times the size of the mockingbird.   But the chase was all in the attitude.   The mockingbird was squawking and chirping in a language that would make a sailor blush.   The hawk wanted no part of it and was trying the flee but could not get away from the mockingbird. What had the hawk done?  What had agitated the mockingbird so much?  Had it been a transgression?  Was the hawk just too close for comfort?  Or did the two have a history.  I was walking a bit later than normal and had not yet seen this routine.  The unusual scene distracted and entertained me as I reflected on a myriad of permutations. As I’ve felt like the one receiving the squawk most of my life as a leader, I was surprised at how proud I was of the little mockingbird.  Maybe ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grace lessons from the sidelines...

The game had gone horribly wrong.  For that matter, the whole season had been a struggle.  My nine year old daughter Kate’s soccer team were woefully bad.  They were so consistently out played by their opponents that the other teams would try to change up their formations and pass the ball so as to not run up the score (at least the classy ones would).  Her coaches were nice people doing the best they could and I appreciated their dedication to my daughter and our team, but they were not really soccer people.  Losing a soccer game is not the end of the world, but consistently watching girls you care about be beaten ten plus to zero because on goal kicks your team kicks the ball to the center and not the outside is heart wrenching to someone who is a soccer person. However, losing was not the most difficult thing.  Watching Kate become demoralized was the worst part.  In our family, we have a rule that you try and give your best... always.  It is o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Appreciation

What a different experience the second trip to Haiti has been.  Better and different in many ways.  Knowing what to expect really changes the experience.  The lack of sleep on the first day was anticipated.  Instead of focusing on my own experience as a team member, I focused more on the experience of the team. Gone was the intense fear of the unknown.  Fear had been replaced by knowledge and a sense of preparation.  The airport and chaos of tap-tap travel was not nearly as daunting.  But, do I risk loosing a spiritual part of my journey because some of it seems familiar.  It is difficult to measure. Incredible, visible progress has been made in Haiti.  Tent cities remain, but in many places clearing of the tents had happened.  There we significantly fewer tents than in June.  Also, the cars had been cleared from the streets.  In June, abandoned cars were everywhere.  Today, tragic was still crazy, goats tied to the front ...
Post a Comment
Read more