“Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Matthew 11:28–30
When a professor walked around her college lecture hall holding out a glass of water, everyone assumed they were about to ponder the age-old question, “Is the glass half-empty or half-full?”
Instead, she simply asked, “How heavy is this glass of water that I’m holding?”
The answers started coming, ranging from eight ounces to a couple of pounds.
She shook her head, and replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little.” She looked around the room. “If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor.” She paused before going on. “You see, in each example, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”
The students responded with murmurs of agreement and nodding heads, as she went on. “Your stresses and worries in life are a lot like this glass of water. Fret about them for a little while and nothing happens. Focus on them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Worry about them all day long, and you might feel numb, even paralyzed, incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”
Is there a burden, a weight you’ve been carrying around for longer than you should have? Maybe it started out small, but with each passing day, month, and year it has grown heavier and heavier until you are not even sure you can carry it any more. Maybe it’s time to set that weight down at the feet of Jesus and allow Him to bring feeling and freedom back into your life. Or if it is a burden you just can’t figure out how to put down right now, perhaps today is the day you recognize Jesus walking beside you offering to help you carry your load.
Is it time to take Him up on His offer?
Watering the Seeds
What have you been carrying for longer than you should have?
How can you hand over your burden to Jesus, or at least ask Him to help you carry it?
