The unbearable Lightness of a burden

My heart has been aching for a friend - who is hurting...You know that feeling? Jesus called us to bare one another's burdens. That's hard, isn't it?  Quite honestly - if it were not for His Spirit indwelling me - (yeah, that's a hard concept for me to understand, too - but I know He's in there!)...If the Spirit of God did not get inside this head and heart of mine, I know I would not give one hoot about my friend's heartache. Oh sure - I'd casually be concerned, and offer kindness when I could - but this is different. This is a BURDEN that wakes me up in the night. This is a BURDEN that is on my heart from the moment I wake up and it remains with me throughout the day. This burden has me ready - on the alert - and willing. This burden makes me pray and hope and look for what I can do to bring JOY and PEACE and HELP to my friend.

You know what I'm talking about, right? A burden is an urgency that makes you just cry out to God, "Tell me what to do - and I'll do it." AND you're praying this even EVEN though you know what God may call you to do could be really hard, really humiliating, really inconvenient, uncomfortable - or even seemingly COMPLETELY impossible. Regardless - you're praying and willing to be used.  And we didn't even ask for this burden, did we?

Is it not incredible that we who follow Christ are moved from the comfort of self - to the discomfort of someone else's heart - another person's life struggle...a dark place where we are not at home, often not welcome, not at ease, not reassured, not respected, not strong, not wise, not able ... just completely dependent on God. We are stirred in our hearts, with our minds, and with our lives - to act on the behalf of someone else. Why?

Why indeed.

I read something today that brought me to a soft place of quiet understanding. I'm not saying I completely understand why we WILL  and why we MUST - carry the burden of others.  What I am saying is that I have laid down my question of why - and I have begun to thank God for this burden and trust Him with it.

I wanted to invite you to read this story as well. It is a short piece written by a Hindu convert to Jesus - who became a missionary. That alone intrigued me..So you ready for this? It's not that long. I promise it will be worth your while.

Here it is:

Shortly after coming to Christ, Sadhu felt called to become a missionary to India. Late one afternoon Sadhu was traveling on foot through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk. It was bitter cold and the wind felt like a cold blade slicing into Sadhu's skin. Night was fast approaching when the monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before the darkness fell. 

Just as they were traversing a narrow path above a steep precipice, they heard a cry of help. Down the cliff lay a man, fallen and badly hurt. The monk looked at Sadhu and said, "Do not stop. God has brought  this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself." Then he quickly added while walking on, "Let us hurry on before we, too, perish." 

But Sadhu replied, "God has sent me here to help my brother, I cannot abandon him." 

The monk continued trudging off through the whirling snow, while the missionary clambered down the steep embankment. The man's leg was broken and he could not walk. So Sadhu took his blanket, made a sling of it, and tied the man on his back. then, bending under his burden, he began a body-torturing climb. By the time he reached the narrow path again, he was drenched with perspiration.

Doggedly, he made his way on through the deepening snow. It was dark now and it was all he could do to follow the path. But he persevered, though faint with fatigue and overheated from the exertion. Finally, he saw ahead the lights of the monastery.

Then, for the first time, Sadhu stumbled and nearly fell - but not from weakness. He had stumbled over some object lying in the snow-covered road. Slowly he bent down on one knee and brushed the snow off the object. It was the body of the monk, frozen to death.

Years later a disciple of Sadhu's asked him, "What is life's most difficult task?"

Without hesitation, Sadhu replied: "To have no burden to carry."

You and I have been given an immeasurable blessing. It is grace to us and grace to those we have been blessed to love.

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" John 15:13
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25

I think of so many people I know who are burdened for others. Some are even burdened for people they haven't even met - locally and around the world. They seek to bring them healing, joy, peace, help in any way possible. They are doing whatever they believe God has called them to do, and their efforts are gargantuan and not without struggle. I also think of you. Which is why I am writing. I hope to encourage you this very day. What God has called you to, dear reader - in bearing someone else's burden - is a gift that He will help you endure...and not only ENDURE..but! THE God of the Universe will help you accomplish what He has put before you to do on His behalf...HOW amazing is that?!?! God will bless you with this burden you carry! It will literally be a blessing. A burden is grace we often do not realize. Isn't that incredible? I'm amazed with you - to the point of humble, grateful tears.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12:2

Picking it up, and moving on, and stumbling forward - with JOY.