Anybody tired of carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders? There are burdens we carry involving work.  Or car repairs, or mortgages, or difficult neighbors or bosses, or finances, or relationships, or world affairs, health, the state of our country...and the list could go on forever.

As a Mom I have fought this tendency  of burden bearing (another name for it is worry!) all my mothering career. I have carried the burden of my children's health, their choices, their education, the development of their talents, and more. And then they become adults- and if there were burdens to carry before, they just quadrupled. Because as adults, they are making adult decisions with adult consequences. There are careers, life partners, higher education, managing money....

I think I will stop thinking about it now....because there is an elephant stepping on my chest.

But 2014 is my year of FREEDOM. And I would really love to be free of the burdens of worry. I have already declared freedom  from the slavery of hurry. I am practicing the art of walking with the Lord, instead of running around like a crazy woman (well- i am TRYING to practice the art of walking.)

But how do I become free of the burdens that weigh me down and choke my happiness?

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens, The God who is our salvation.              Ps. 68:19

Head slap. Daily. God promises to carry my burdens EVERY day. And that is a good thing because burdens are hard, difficult, and cumbersome. I am not designed to bear the burdens. If I try, I will be crushed under the weight.

If God has been daily bearing my burdens all these years, why the heck have I been joining in? I think He is perfectly capable of burden bearing and doesn't need my help AT ALL. Considering that He is all powerful and all knowing- knowing the beginning from the end- I think He has got this thing covered.

But I must admit that KNOWING God is carrying my burdens doesn't immediately set me loose from my burdens. How do I find freedom?

Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.   Ps. 55:22

Oh yeah. I remember that verse.

I do have a job- not bearing burdens , but casting them. My task is to throw every single burden onto the square, strong shoulders of the only One Who is capable to hold them or do anything about them.

And when I am not bearing them anymore, I think I will have found some freedom. Freedom from hurry. Freedom from worry.

This could be a very good year.

 

casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.  I Pet. 5:7