Most men I know have a one-trip policy when it comes to bringing groceries into the house…or taking garbage out. We may have bought enough to fill the buggy (yes, it’s a buggy, not a cart) to the top…but we somehow think we can bring it all in with one trip. We may have shoved trash down until it’s falling out and then gone and collected another bag with trash from the other rooms in the house…but it all goes out with one trip. This isn’t so much a problem of poor math skills…it has more to do with pride. We can handle it. As we walk past with the plastic bags digging into our fingers, you may hear a labored, sarcastic, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
From an early age, we are told to take care of ourselves. Look out for yourself because no one else will. And if you want something done right, do it yourself. These sayings have a time and a place. We must learn to be independent. We must learn to be responsible.
But we also need to learn that we can’t carry all of our burdens alone.
As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I make a call on the way home from the grocery store that I know irritates my girls. When I’m about five minutes from home, I call and tell them I’m almost home and they need to come out and help unload the groceries. I could still do it…but I can’t do it as well as two or three sets of hands can. Many hands do indeed make light work.
These are simple day-by-day examples of sharing a burden.
Every day, spiritually, we carry burdens. Burdens that we were never intended to carry alone. We have money burdens. Marriage burdens. Fathers (and many mothers) carry the burden of providing for their families. We carry burdens at work. We carry the burdens of past failures. We carry the burden of uncertain futures. We carry burdens as parents, just hoping that we have raised our children right. We carry burdens about decisions we don’t know how to make. We carry spiritual burdens. Have we been faithful to the Lord today? Have we done all that the Lord intended for us to accomplish today?
So what do we do? We reach in and pick up another bag because we know we can handle it. Don’t worry, world, I’ve got it. We strain a little more and keep going.
But God never told us to carry everything ourselves.
In Psalm 55:22, David writes, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” That’s good stuff. David paints a beautiful picture of not just laying our burdens down. He says, “Cast” your burden on the Lord. Throw it off. Toss it. Chunk it.
In other words, stop trying to carry what God is willing to carry for you.
Instead of straining under your burdens, call out like I do on the way home from the grocery store: “I need some help.”
Then let somebody help.
More importantly, let God help.
Today, cast off the burdens you were never intended to carry alone.
If you enjoyed this little word of encouragement, you can find more like it at The Notebook, my collection of stories, devotions, and reflections.
Scott Sullivan 
Leave a comment