Our recent move was full of stress, as all moves are. My biggest hope was that the kids would adjust quickly. My little girl did. We have neighbors with girls her age and they became fast friends. Things weren't so easy for my son. He is a very outgoing boy and can play with just about anyone, but making an actual friend wasn't coming easy. I felt bad for him. He seemed bored and lonely, and even angry that Mercy had friends right next door. My heart was heavy and my most frequent prayer was that he would find a good friend.
Last week magic happened. Judah was playing basketball in the front yard and this boy came walking up, wanting to play. He is from two doors down and I'm not sure how we didn't meet before, but they hit it off. This was the moment I had been waiting for. They've played together almost every day since then. The funny thing is, now that things are right for Judah, things are right for me. I didn't realize how much of a burden his lonely-ness was to me until he made a friend and the burden was gone. I felt like everything became right in my world.
Because I love him I carried his burden. His sadness was my sadness, and his lack was my distress. My heart ached with the desire to make it better for him. I wished he didn't have to be affected by it at all. I wanted to take it the pain on myself.
If I feel this way about my son, how much more does Jesus feel this way about us? Matthew 11: 28 (NLT) says “ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”and 1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible) says, “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns], [once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
So what exactly does this mean for us? It means that the same compassion I had for Judah, Jesus has for us. And the intense desire I had to take away Judah's pain and carry it all myself, Jesus has that for us, too. The difference is Jesus can do what I could not. He really can take it away. He really can give us what we seek. Try as I might I could not be the friend Judah needed, and I couldn't make him feel better until he made that friend. It was a burden he had to bear. But it doesn't have to be that way for us, because God can do it! He can solve our problems, grant us peace, give us healing, or what ever else it is we need. Or He can take away the burden of our need until it is His timing to provide. The only catch? We have to let him. The bible says we have to cast the “whole of our care, once and for all on Him.”
Is it hard to leave our burdens at his feet? You better believe it. But the fact is, the longer we carry the burden, the more likely we are to try and fix it ourselves. And we all know how that turns out.......
Last week magic happened. Judah was playing basketball in the front yard and this boy came walking up, wanting to play. He is from two doors down and I'm not sure how we didn't meet before, but they hit it off. This was the moment I had been waiting for. They've played together almost every day since then. The funny thing is, now that things are right for Judah, things are right for me. I didn't realize how much of a burden his lonely-ness was to me until he made a friend and the burden was gone. I felt like everything became right in my world.
Because I love him I carried his burden. His sadness was my sadness, and his lack was my distress. My heart ached with the desire to make it better for him. I wished he didn't have to be affected by it at all. I wanted to take it the pain on myself.
If I feel this way about my son, how much more does Jesus feel this way about us? Matthew 11: 28 (NLT) says “ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”and 1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible) says, “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns], [once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
So what exactly does this mean for us? It means that the same compassion I had for Judah, Jesus has for us. And the intense desire I had to take away Judah's pain and carry it all myself, Jesus has that for us, too. The difference is Jesus can do what I could not. He really can take it away. He really can give us what we seek. Try as I might I could not be the friend Judah needed, and I couldn't make him feel better until he made that friend. It was a burden he had to bear. But it doesn't have to be that way for us, because God can do it! He can solve our problems, grant us peace, give us healing, or what ever else it is we need. Or He can take away the burden of our need until it is His timing to provide. The only catch? We have to let him. The bible says we have to cast the “whole of our care, once and for all on Him.”
Is it hard to leave our burdens at his feet? You better believe it. But the fact is, the longer we carry the burden, the more likely we are to try and fix it ourselves. And we all know how that turns out.......
February 17, 2009 at 4:45 PM
This made me cry. It is hard to just cast all of our cares on Him- and leave them there. Yet God is sooooooo merciful toward us.....Your blog is great!
February 18, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Trying to figure out who Big Momma is?????
April 2, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Incredible analogy! You really have a gift here girl!