Shouldering burdens

Struggles come for each of us. From time to time. For reasons that we cannot quite grasp. Struggles come.

Why then, are we surprised/upset/discouraged when they do come our way? Why then do we feel as though the world will end this time? When we have successfully survived the trials of the past?

This happens because we forget the trouble when it is past. We celebrate the spring without clinging to the pain of the winter. When the sun is bright and warm on the cheek, we forget that it was once dark. And we are oblivious to the inevitable night that so quickly approaches from the eastern horizon.

At times I wonder what it is like for those who work in the secular world. Do they feel the weight of many eyes each week as they work in sales or healthcare or tech? Do they feel the weight of expectation in the same way we who work in the church do?

I am certain that some do. I am even more certain that some do not.

Those who feel the heavy weight of expectation regularly understand how the burden grows. They understand how one’s best is never enough. And they can see the burden others bear. A different shape, from a different source, but still alike in its oft-destructive effects.

It is these who, when their burden is lighter, will help another shoulder a weight that is not their own to bear. To you, many thanks are offered and much deserved.

For those who do not feel the weight and who have no understanding of its effects, it becomes easy to sit by and pass judgment on those bearing the weight. For some it becomes a consuming force – evaluating how others walk under strain. “I don’t like the way you’re doing that.” “Do it this way.” “I like the way he does it, why don’t you do it the same way?” In doing this, they do not realize that weight is added with each comment, each judgmental glance. Each smirk compounds the initial weight. What we would ask is that you walk along side us. Help bear the weight. Feel firsthand the difficulty and reserve judgment. Rather, encourage. Support. Join. Serve.

It is in serving together that understanding can be forged. And it is through understanding that caring words are heard.