Help, I’m overloaded!
Help me, I’m overloaded! Have you ever felt this way or even said this outloud to someone? I know I have. We are going to start our blog time together looking at what it might look like to come out from underneath our loads. Could be loads of laundry, loads of dishes or anything else that piles on us.
I’ve mentioned a devotional before in another blog titled Fret Buster by Roy Lessin and we are going to take a look at Day 12 to see what it offers us for our loads of life. It begins like this….
An aged, weary woman, carrying a heavy basket, got aboard a train, and when seated she did not let go of her heavy basket. The kind voice of a man sitting next to her spoke these words, "Lay down your burden, madam, the train will carry both it and you."
(J.H. Jowett, THE SILVER LINING)
Overloaded in your Christian life?
This is where we will spend our time together this month.
Jesus shares in Matthew 11:30 - ….my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
When we think about how much Jesus had to do in the short 33 years he was here on earth, we learn where he drew his strength from and who was carrying his loads.
Jesus mentioned a yoke, if you've ever seen a yoke, you'll find it has two sides to it. It can't function with just one, it’s designed and requires two for proper movement. With just one, it's harness is heavy and strenuous, lopsided and unbalanced, but with two it is as though the weight shifts to the stronger and you are carried along with minimal effort. This picture is how Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit as his moving train. We see this in the way He would go off by himself to spend time in prayer with God his Father, shifting the weight over to Him to carry. The Holy Spirit then enabled him to move forward in the thing at hand. We see this in:
Matthew 26:39 Amplified version (Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane)
And after going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible [that is, consistent with Your will], let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
I have had different seasons in my life that seemed I couldn't have enough hours in a day to complete all that I thought was needed. But, somehow, I made it through each and every day, most likely totally exhausted. I can remember sitting down with my calendar and attempting to eliminate events or restructuring them to try to lessen the load that seemed so heavy for me to carry. I don't remember thinking I can shift this load to someone else, I just came up with another restructure. Somehow, I still came up exhausted and unable to really feel like I got ahead or accomplished what I needed to, in true joy. I just got through it! I think this is because when I just got through the "thing", there was another thing waiting and sometimes many things. Which in reality, when you have others relying on you, this can be your life experience for a good long while. It really wasn't until many years after living life this way that I came to know the J.H. Jowett meaning, I shared above.
Have you been on the train and still carrying your loads? Summer time can be a fun train in many ways, because of warmer weather, swimming, hiking, and other fun activities, but it can also bring a load you think you need to carry. Yes, there are a lot of things to do, but the question is are you resting in and relying on the Holy Spirit in your daily things? I'm going to keep this month's blog short as, I believe the caring truth, I’m sharing, is a simple one. Let’s jump back to our Fret Buster....
(continuing Day 12) ….the aged woman's basket and its contents were not bad things. The basket may have contained the food items needed to feed her family that day. It was the weight of the basket that made the woman weary:
Is there something in your life that has become a burden? It may be a good thing, and the right thing for you to do, but there may be a weight associated with it that is making you weary: The Lord may not want you to cast away the good thing, but He does want you to cast the care of it on Him. He wants you to let Him carry it.
The Lord desires to release you from every burden that would weigh you down, make your heart heavy, or rob you of the strength you need to do His will. He will stustain you. He is able to carry both you and the weight of your burden!
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
The next time you plan up a day's events, make room for Jesus in every part of it. He's a great event planner, He's a wonderful conversationalist in the car, He's is the fun at the pool or the park, so relax, lay down your expectionations of the perfect event or the great result and just be present with Him.
Photo: https://unsplash.com/photos/green-and-red-train-on-rail-tracks-during-daytime-BK2BC_0bNVU Nick Sorockin