THE LOADS OF LIFE

If ever there was a generation that felt life's load, it must surely be this one. The stress from the loads that many carry today seems to be at epidemic proportions. Many of those stresses are fueled by a variety of different events that we're seeing taking place right across our globe. We live in a time where, due to opportunity and access we have more than we have ever had on all levels of life. We've more money, or at least more access to have more plastic money than ever before. We've better living conditions, our working conditions are much better than our parents. We've more holidays and leisure time than ever, yet there seems to be more strain, more stress, more striving and more struggling than ever, in people's lives. There is a consistent attitude of, “The more I get, the more I want”, and the more some get, the less contented and satisfied they seem to be. More than ever, hospitals and psychiatric wards are filled with people who have been wracked by anxiety, fear, striving with labors and burdens from the loads of life, and those burdens are causing more health care issues for people than ever before!   They are simply the loads of life, and we all carry them.

If you're experiencing the strains of life,  and if perhaps you have even been striving to do better, but seem to always be failing, and don’t know what else to do. Maybe you've been striving in religion, by trying to keep some kind of dogmatic hold of some kind of faith or ritual, and you feel miserable because you just can't ever reach the mark. Maybe your problem is that you've no peace of mind, tranquility in your heart has eluded you because of fears, maybe even doubt about this life and eternity, maybe questions that you can't get answered. You may be even at this present moment feeling like you are momentarily sinking under the burden of guilt for things that you've done in the past? Maybe your heart is broken because of the hurts of others that have been inflicted upon you. Whatever it is, whatever your specific situation is today, you are simply under the load of life, and you feel it oh so heavily. My friend, may I remind you that we all feel that load at times. For you are not alone. Remember that!

In the Kingdom of God, we are to look at our situation through the eyes of faith, not our fleshy eyes but with our spiritual eyes. Now understand this…it is very important,  in order for it to help…to see with spiritual eyes, we must first, have our eyes opened spiritually. After they are opened, we are allowed to view life from God’s perspective. If, after God shows us the thing that we must see and what we are  to do about it, and then we are unwilling to correct it, then our load becomes heavier and more troublesome. If we respond properly, the burden is placed on Him and He carries it for us as we are able to walk in peace. If however, we choose to ignore what He shows us, then I can assure you that those burdens will only increase until we get to the proper breaking point needed to reveal whatever needs to be revealed.

There is only so much we can do in our day in, day out living. Whether it is in the workplace, our homes, with family and friends, or in the church. The need is always going to be great, or at least feel that way if they are important to us. I am constantly being reminded that  as I feel overwhelmed that there is so much to do and seemingly so little time to do it.

Sometimes a simple choice to let others help can alleviate some strains on us. Someone once asked this question: Which is the less stressful person, the one who can do the work of ten people, or the one who can get ten people to work? More than likely it is the latter one. For this is a person who has learned to delegate the task and gives others (and this is so very import) the freedom to do it. Some people are great at telling other what to do….but they insist on them doing the work the way the one who is delegating it wants it to be done. Now in some cases that may be alright. But in most, I have found that the whole point is allowing others to use their own God given abilities to be creative as well as being used in the process of taking burdens off others. Sometimes, we are simply our own enemy.

We must ask ourselves it we are contributing to our own burdens or the burdens that we are placing on others?  Simply put, are we adding to the weight of the task; or are we helping to lighten the load for ourselves as well as others. We might even say it this way…..are we being an asset or a liability.

There are days that I don’t know what to do first, answer my emails, work a spreadsheet, file important documents, call my daughters to remind them that I love them and am praying for their day, read my Bible, do to the laundry, decide what to fix for dinner, plan a Bible Study, have a fellowship in my home…? But the most important thing that I want to do, is to be at peace and not be overwhelmed throughout my day….and I have found, that when I put God first above all the other stuff…..then I take peace with me as I go through those moments of frustrations and loads that life will surly dump on me throughout my day.

Matthew 11:28 says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". These very words that Jesus spoke show us something that is universal. The pressures and problems that confronted the people of His day… are unchanging through the centuries. Things that happened centuries ago are still happening today.

If you feel that you can't carry your load much longer, you can't bear it much farther. May I remind you that there is a place for you to find rest, and that place may be somewhere in your life that you need to let something go. You may need to take a dip into the Word of God and find that the answers to your questions lie in the pages of that family Bible that has collected more dust than the shelf that it now rest upon.

Maybe you need to pray a simply prayer of repentance asking the One who longs to bear your burdens for you to come into your life and open your spiritual eyes that you may no longer see from your perspective but from His. Maybe you need to turn from something….we are told to take His yoke for it is not heavy….that means simply to do it His way and stop trying to do it ours…..you and I don't need any more instructions on how to get to God….we need only pray and seek Him who is waiting for us to come.

Hold Fast today my Friend…..don’t you give up!

Hold Fast,

-Bren