The unburdened life

Praise be to the Lord our Saviour who daily bears our burdens.

Psalm 68:19

What might it look like to live an unburdened life in 2021?

Could you take a moment to recognise what burdens you carry? Sometimes we don’t even notice; the burden has become normal like when you’ve worn a mask so long that you forget off. Or like when my son Ben would come in from school starving and forget to take his rucksack off.

What burdens are you carrying that the Saviour wants to lift off you?

He waits to take our burden of guilt – and hurl all our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103)

He waits for us to bring him our fears - about Covid, our finances and our futures.

What about the crushing burden of grief? This Christmas, it landed on me again – often holiday times are hard. But grief is different to the other burdens. I don’t want it hurled away because it is inextricable from precious memories. Still I need to bring it to my Saviour; as I do, he holds me and the burden changes from aching loss to treasure.

Why the picture of the race? This week, it popped up on my computer and made me smile and I remembered the joy of that day as they ran all-out to win, not burdened and sluggish. For me, it’s a picture of the joy and determination with which God wants us to run the race of life - even on grey lockdown days.

 A year into this Marathon that is Covid-19, many of us are tired of running this race. That’s exactly why we need to daily hand over the burdens.  How can you run well when you are heavy-laden? One of my sons takes this so seriously that he will only wear shorts for a race – no race leggings for him even when it’s cold - that would be extra weight. He is right; we don’t want to run encumbered. 

As we look ahead, it is not the hope of a vaccine that will get us through with light hearts, to run all-out, it is the promise that every day we can cast our cares onto God – who cares for us.