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Shifting the Load

 In Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus extends the invitation to come to Him.

I know He is talking to me because He mentions that He is extending the invite to those who are weary and those who are carrying heavy burdens. 

That’s was me yesterday, for sure.

I was driving home at the end of a sweet  day chasing Gdawg and Emmy. No reflection on my time with them, but my heart was heavy for some things and drive time means prayer time.

There are just some things that are deep in my heart right now. For me and for some people who are very dear to me. They weigh heavy on my spirit.

So as I drove, I told God how I wished I had someone to talk to. Someone who could not only listen but help. Someone real.

And I told Him that I know that He is that Someone, so in faith I was going to just tell Him all about it. For the millionth time.

And I thanked Him that He keeps listening.

And as I talked, I remembered the verse from Matthew 11 about how Jesus invited us to come to Him when we are feeling the way I was feeling.

I do get that, but to be honest, driving along talking into empty air just isn’t the same as having a tangible body there to converse with. So I asked for a way to make it more real.

I know that He also invites me to cast my cares on Him. And honestly, the things that are burdening my heart right now, really do need to put on to His shoulders. These shoulders of clay were not meant to bear them.

I wondered how I could do something in the physical to represent the casting of my cares on to Jesus. It needed to be something heavy.

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So I took a handful of the change out of my toll/parking stash in the console. I  cupped them in my hand and felt the weight of them.

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and then one by one

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I dropped them back into the bag  as I named each of my cares.

If you are concerned that all of this was happening while driving….rest assured, I could do every maneuver with one hand, while firmly grasping the wheel with the other.

As the coins were swallowed back into the sack, my heart began to feel lighter. Freed from the last coin, I put the bag away.

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Where it belongs.

I can’t carry around a handful of coins any more than I can carry the work that only God can do in these circumstances.

 

Then I asked Jesus to just put His yoke on me.

Not the burdens I have tried to take on, but the yoke of partnership with Him. The part I am meant to carry.

My heart felt lighter;  with a deeper sense of who God is and what He can do.

Yoked with Him, my burdens now resting on His shoulders; my hands and heart were free to be lifted in praise to Him.

And as I asked Him what Word He had for me, now that we had the load shifted out of my hands and into His, a truck passed me with a bumper sticker that said, “Jesus Loves You”.

So I raised those empty hands (yes, still holding the wheel…it can be done…) and sang that sweet song from childhood, agreeing with every word –

Jesus loves me, THIS I know….Yes, Jesus loves me…I am weak, but He is strong….yes….Jesus…loves….me <3

 

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