Carrying One Another's Burdens

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

What does this verse look like in our lives?

Before this can be answered, let’s first establish what “carrying one another’s burdens” is not. It is not pointing out someone’s faults. It is not telling someone what they should have done. It is not telling someone what we would have done in their situation. It is not waiting anxiously for someone to ask us what we think and then giving our opinion. It does not have all of the answers, in fact it does not have most of the answers. It is not preaching a five point sermon to someone who is struggling. (Are you beginning to catch a common thread here?)

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” James 1:19

Don't talk, Listen!

We are all going to face struggles and hardships in our lifetime. We all know what if feels like to be in the trenches or to find ourselves in a dark and lonely place. For many of us, the very thing we need when we are going through our struggles unfortunately, is not the same thing we give out when others come to us with their struggles. Let me explain. Sometimes in our struggles we need a listening ear and instead of getting a listening ear, we get a person sharing their experience and how they did things a specific way. Please don’t get me wrong here, there are times when those experiences need to be shared, but there are also times when the person struggling simply needs to talk through some things with no advice attached to it from the one “listening.” 

I know for me, my times of struggle have often been spent in silence when I should have been sharing with someone, crying on their shoulder and the time together ending in some serious prayer. However, silence became my companion in so many of those times. I blame myself for much of this because I, like so many others I’m sure, walk through life as if constantly attending a masquerade ball. So often others around me are unable to tell I am struggling unless I am asked directly. I conceal my breaking heart behind a smiling mask. 

Carry!
So, because of this I find that in my times of struggle I am not typically asked how I am doing. I mean really how I am doing. You know the kind of asking that the person does when they look straight into your eyes as if they are looking directly at your very soul. Yet, it comes across like this “I’m asking you how you are doing because I love you, I care about you and I want to pray for you. I want to invest my time in you. I am in no hurry to go anywhere else. I will be here as long as you need me. I am here to cry right along side you and pray with you as long as you need. I more then likely don't have any answers for you, but I serve a God that we can talk to about everything.” Instead, it often comes across more like this “I’m asking how you’re doing because I am curious, and because it is a common courtesy to ask you how you are doing, not because I want to invest my time in you, but because this is what I am supposed to do. This is the socially acceptable thing to do.” Can you see the difference here? Which person would you open up your heart to? The sad part about this is the fact that we as a society have made ourselves unavailable for people. We have become so immersed in so many things that we have lost the ability to even have time to invest in the hearts of others. I am guilty of this very thing myself. My heart longs for these types of relationships. Not just in my life, but in the lives of others. I truly believe that when God created us, that it was not His intent for us to try and figure this thing out on our own. God has designed us to have close relationships with fellow believers in Christ so that when we struggle, we can carry each other’s burdens and place them at the feet of the Father rather than simply tell each other what to do.

There has been several occasions over the years that women have poured out their hearts out to me. I have cried right along with them. In just about every case I did not have a single word of advice to give them. All I could do was hug them, cry with them, and pray with them. I thank God for these opportunities. I pray for more like them. These opportunities have brought such blessing to my heart because I see the beauty of the hearts of these women and it is so very precious. My hope is that when you find yourselves in similar situations that you will remember to simply carry these precious hearts to the feet of our heavenly Father and stay there with them as long as they need.

Related Posts: The Call To One Another Living

Lord, I pray that you give us the courage to ask others how they are doing and in such a way that we are willing to invest the time into carrying their burdens. I pray that we be willing to lay aside our busy schedules and make time for those who are hurting. Father, help us not to approach these times with advice, but rather with a heart full and overflowing with your love and compassion for them, with arms wide open and hands ready to embrace them. Lord, show us how to guard and protect the hearts of those hurting, but most importantly to lay their hurting hearts at your feet with as much love and compassion as you have shown us on the cross. Thank you for the example of love you have set for us.