Over-burdened

My wife and I were on holiday recently visiting an ancient city in the west of England. We were very interested in the local mediaeval history, and included a look around the cathedral in our visit. The building was immense, and the workmanship staggering, especially considering it was constructed almost 800 years ago before any modern machines were invented, although there were some very old drawings showing the builders using hand-operated cranes to lift the heavy stones into place hundreds of feet above the ground.

At one point however, there was a somewhat worrying piece of information. It stated that the tower and spire above us, which reached over 260 feet into the sky, weighed about 6500 tonnes. Unfortunately the designers had miscalculated and the stone columns which supported the structure were bending a bit under the weight. You could see the bow in them! We moved on quite quickly, although they had been like that for many hundred years.

I am reminded of the call of Jesus to those who are overburdened with the cares of life: `Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light`. So often we get ourselves weighed down unnecessarily with the issues of our circumstances, instead of casting them upon the Lord (remember 1 Peter 5:7). I know that often I worry about things and even lose sleep over them, until I remember to hand them over to Jesus. I wonder why I haven’t learnt that lesson fully yet?

If you are feeling that your ‘columns’ are getting a bit bowed because of the heavy load you are carrying at the moment, why not talk to the Lord and see if maybe you are trying to carry more that you were designed for. And whatever the load, try handing it over to Jesus before it breaks you. Some things are too much for us, but they are never too much for Jesus.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am sorry for all the times that I allow myself to become weighed down by life`s issues, rather than just carrying what You give me - the lighter burden of discipleship. Please help me to come to You at an earlier stage, instead of waiting till I start to buckle under the strain. Amen.