Your head begins to hang. Your eyes drop to the floor. Your shoulders are heavy. The weight of the world feels like it’s pressing you down. Who are you to be succeeding in your career? How do you know you’re even going to make it? Maybe you’ll fail. You won’t make enough to survive forever. You’ll be working to live the rest of your life. No one will ever understand the burdens you carry. No one will ever relate to your struggles. No one will ever love you how you need to be loved. No one will ever understand. Lies echo through every part of your being. Even if it looks like you have it all together there wars being waged within the walls of your body, heart, and mind that no one will ever be able to see.
You drop to your knees. Resting on your heels, your back hunches. Your eyelids drop and you try to ground yourself. Your family is suffering. Work is laborious. There is sickness, there is pain, there is worry, and you can’t seem to be able to solve the sorrows of the world. Your body continues to crumple towards the floor. The weight of your own problems and many others presses your shoulders ever closer to the cold floor. Its like a blanket of black sticky tar is wrapped around your being holding you down. Attached to that tar is all the baggage from your past. The weight of all the failures of your life. All the worries for those you love are pulling you down despite your eyes longing to look upward. You can’t escape the weight. As you try to breathe, you can feel your heart racing with the anxiety. The stress and anxiety is intoxicating. As you crumple you don’t know if you will ever be able to stand back up. You lay there, drowning in your hopelessness, wondering if you will ever recover.
Suddenly you feel a slight warmth similar to the rays of the sun. The weight becomes lighter little by little. Your eyes gaze up to see strong hands picking up the heavy blanket that covers you. You’re amazed. You didn’t think that you’d ever feel what it feels like to be free of that weight. You take a closer look at the hands and see they are bloody and worn like that of a carpenter. There is a hole the size of a penny through each palm and wood splinters surround them. The veins bulge as He lifted the blanket. Even with the appearance of struggle, He moved the blanket with ease. His hands throw the blanket aside and you see they belong to a gentle looking man. He has deep eyes that see into the very depths of your heart and all that it holds. Blood drops streaked down his face and the garments He wears are coated in dried blood. He takes your hands in His and pulls you to your feet. Exhausted from the weight, you fall into Him and He bears your weight effortlessly. He wraps His arms around you and you feel safe and warm. Your tears land on his chest while he holds you. An indescribable peace courses through your veins. For the first time you feel seen and understood. Just one look into His eyes and you know that He knows everything about you and all you have done and still loves you immensely. You can’t help but just rest in the Lord’s arms.
By Gertrude Wildflower
Scripture Study Questions: Matthew 11:28-30
As you read the journal and scripture was there anything particular that stood out to you? Why do you think it stood out?
What does the scripture reveal about the heart of God and His will for us?
Have you ever felt weighed down by the world and worry? How did/is God showing you He was/is near?
What is Christ inviting us to from the scripture?
How can we share this with those we encounter this week?
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