One day I watched my high school daughter walk towards me after a game. She was carrying a backpack on her back filled to the seams with her school books and another full backpack on her front filled with her sports stuff. If that wasn’t enough, her hands loaded with a few extra items. When I saw all she was carrying, all I wanted to do was lend her a hand and help her. I asked her if she needed a hand but she said she was fine and continued to the car without receiving the help that was offered her way.
As we drove away my eyes were opened to how I am like my daughter.
Although I am not carrying around physical backpacks on my front and my back and extra items in my hands, every day I am carrying around all that I need to do as a wife, a mom of three, a teacher, and a writer. Yet that isn’t all I carry with me. I also carry around what is happening with our family, friends, and all that is happening in the world. I saw how I am like my daughter, going through the motions, carrying more than I need to, saying I am fine, and doing things on my own strength.
I know God sees me and wants to share the load and lighten the heavy. Yet I was humbled that day to see how I often can be towards God how my daughter was to me.
Can you relate?
I share this story with you because so many of us are carrying so much on our shoulders.
We do not need to go through life powering through on our own strength while feeling overwhelmed and depleted. That is not how God designed us nor what He wants for us.
We have a choice before us, to keep walking through our days with the weight of all we are carrying on our shoulders, or we can turn to God, who sees all that we are carrying, and accept the help he is offering us.
I invite you to join me to…
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we do the latter. For when we do invite God beside us to help lighten the heavy we will gain insight of what is ours to do, what is for others to do, and what is God’s to do- and we will have more rest in our souls.
And maybe when we do this, others, like my daughter, will follow our example and do the same, accepting the help offered their way.
With love and hope,
Shawn