GRIEVE NO MORE

Ecclesiastes 11:10

Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence…

The young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said. "I have too heavy a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear it's weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open another door and pick any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and did as he was told. As he looked around the room he saw many different crosses; some so large the tops were not visible. Then he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered.

And the Lord replied, "My son, that's the cross you brought in."

A burden is the heaviness of the heart, soul and spirit. But instead of asking God to carry them for us, we grieve and demand from Him to totally take them away from us. For us, it gives us so much trouble that we blame Him for everything bad that happens to us. However, we must not focus on the burden we have. We must focus on how God has blessed us. We must let God handle our burdens.

Let us ask God to teach us to be a burden-bearer, not a burden-passer. And as we help lift other people’s burden – let Him also lift ours, for He is a merciful God. We should never think that we are too important to help someone. We should not think that it is only us who suffers. The sufferings we experience may only be a small cross to carry as compared to other.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, may we share each other's burdens, and in this way, we obey the law of Christ. The rest that You give, we know we don't deserve it. But we believe that You will give us the ability to have peace and confidence of mind. You may not remove the whole burden, because You want us to see how great are You. But we must still come to You; we lay it all out to You, for we trust in You forever and our lives to You we surrender.

Amen +

Fill us with your kindness, that we may shout for joy…all our days.