We had a beautiful women’s retreat this last weekend, full of fellowship and freedom as we recognized that we have everything we need for daily life already within us in Christ’s Life. One of the things we talked about was how we sometimes feel the need to carry the burdens of others. We believe we must carry the burdens of our family, our friends, our coworkers, our kids and so many others—and we slowly burn out in taking on the responsibility of trying to make them feel better.
I often have felt this way, especially in my early days of counseling. I would listen to all the stories of the people who had come to talk to me, and pile them all on my shoulders. I felt it was my job to fix them, and that was incredibly overwhelming. I struggled with nightmares, distractions and general discouragement as I felt it was up to me to carry the weight of all these stories.
Stories have a purpose in reminding us that we are not alone and in showing others what God has done, but they are not meant to create further burden. I know that in the past I have looked at “super Christians” and felt I needed to be more like them in order to be successful at this Christian life stuff. Or, I get swallowed up in the hard stories and feel it’s my job to fix the suffering.
Neither of these is true. I love Galatians 6:2 in the Passion Translation: Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles.
This verse reminds me that it is love that empowers us to carry burdens—not duty, responsibility, my own strength or determination. Christ’s Life within us is the love that empowers us, and when we allow Him to do this through us, we don’t get hung up trying to fix everything. We recognize it is God’s job to be the burden-carrier, for He can actually do something about them. When I try to do that on my own, I usually make a bigger mess!
This also means we may not react to each person with a burden in the same way. Some we may gently walk with in order to help them find hope and encouragement in what they already have in Jesus. With others, we may have to bring truth in love in order to help them see they are not in the place that suits them—they have chosen to deny who they are in Christ. Each one is different, and as we move in relationship with God, we will approach the one carrying the burdens empowered by love rather than trying to be motivated by our own strength, desire for acceptance or determination to be the perfect friend.
It may sound like semantics, but this source makes all the difference. Only when I am being empowered by love and sourced by Christ can I carry anyone’s burdens in a way that actually helps them, and keeps me from burning out.