It is always nice to do things for other people, isn't it? Especially is if it something pretty easy and doesn't really take you too far out of your way, right? One of the great challenges (and greatest blessings) of life can be our desire to "help" or have compassion for others. One challenge in this comes when we have to step back and ask ourselves if we are enabling someone to remain stuck in their situation. Another comes when we find ourselves so busy helping others, that we become too burdened to accomplish God's leading and will for our own lives.
A story that has remained in my memory for years comes from the book "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World." The story is below:
The story is told of a man who met God one day. God asked him to take a wagon with three stones to the top of the mountain. God gave the man specific instructions, sketching a map in the dust. The man cheerfully set off pulling the wagon behind him.
As he was going through a small village, a friend stopped him and asked him what he was doing. He explained that he was taking the wagon of rocks to the top of the mountain. The friend became excited as he explained he was just thinking about how he was going to get his rock to the top of the mountain, and would the man be willing to take the rock in his wagon as well? Happily, the man with the wagon took the friend’s rock and started on his way.
As he went along, more and more people asked him to take their rocks with him until the wagon grew fuller and fuller. The wagon felt huge and awkward as it lumbered and swayed over the ruts in the road. No longer was the man singing praises. Instead, resentment began to build inside. Frustrated, the man was beginning to have visions of giving up and letting the wagon roll backward.
About that time God came to his side and asked what the problem was. “You gave me a job that is too hard for me,” the man sobbed. God walked over to the wagon. “What is this?” He held up a big piece of shale and tossed it on the ground. The man explained about his friend who asked him to bring it up the mountain. God continued to unload the wagon, removing both light and heavy items until only the three stones God had given him were left in the wagon.
“Let others shoulder their own belongings,” God said gently. “I know you were trying to help, but when you are weighted down with all these cares,
you cannot do what I have asked of you.”
Obviously, part of living out Christ's commandment to "Love on another" does challenge us to help and care for others. I am not suggesting that we stop being kind and compassionate. This story speaks to a different extreme: when we get so busy shouldering everyone else's burdens that we do not have the freedom to be the people God wants us to be.
What "stones" are weighing you down today? Take a minute and write down those things that are too heavy for you. How many of them are your burdens to bear? How many are things out of your control? What would it feel like to unburden yourself from this heaviness?
Prayer: Dear God, help me to be available and open to your call in my life. Help me to recognize where I can be of help to others and to release those burdens I bear that really are not my own. I ask for your blessings to be poured out upon those I care for that struggle and need your guidance. I lift to you my friends and family and thank you for placing them in my life. Help all of us to receive the love and forgiveness you have for us, and show us how to shine the light of Christ in the world. Amen.
Amen.
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