Carrying One Another’s Burdens

I will never forget the day I drove home from the Bible study I was leading at the country church where my husband was the pastor, while teaching full-time at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. I was crying so hard I could hardly see to drive.

“It is too hard, Lord!” I sobbed.

It was another Wednesday when the burdens and troubles revealed by the group far outweighed the joys. Not just trite burdens, but real loads of concern about health issues, children gone or going astray, economic issues. Cancer was taking too much of a toll on our group.

One of the things I wanted to teach and leave with this group was praying for one another. We ended each time of study together by sharing the things we wanted each other to pray about in the coming week. At first I did all the out-loud-praying as none of the folks gathered had learned to pray in public. Eventually the group became comfortable with talking to God in each other’s presence.

As the people shared their burdens I carefully wrote them down so I could both pray accurately with the group, and later as I remembered these things during the week in my private prayer time.

As we went around the circle that Wednesday, the burdens seemed to get heavier and heavier.

When it came time to pray I could barely keep the tears from flowing. I left the group and headed back to my job at the University with a heavy heart, a truly aching heart. It was too much. It was too hard to care so much about all these other people.

As I sobbed my way back to work the verse from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (6:2) repeated over and over in my head, “Carry one another’s burdens...and so fulfill the law of Christ.” A small voice kept insisting “this is what it means to carry someone else’s burden.”

In the weeks that followed that Wednesday I watched a wondrous transformation take place as the group, who were largely polite to each other, began to really care about each other.

And I came to love them as I had never allowed myself to love a group before.

That group has morphed over the years, but they still meet on a frequent basis and have stuck with each other through some thick and thin places.

Recently a friend of mine began sharing with me and several other caring friends her concerns about a niece who suffers and struggles with a brain dysfunction. Our friend shared with us a detailed email about this girl’s recent experience. It was filled with details difficult to read about.

At one point I was considering just skimming the rest of the email – the suffering revealed in great detail was upsetting to me. Then I realized that this too is a part of carrying one another’s burdens. We cannot adequately get under the load of someone else’s pain if we do not know what that pain is.

So I read to the end and now I pray often for this young girl.

Sometimes it means taking the time to listen, really listen and hear the burden of someone else.

Sometimes it means having to experience the burden for ourselves.

Bill and I could not really understand the agony of having premature babies. We did not really understand the ache of standing by an isolette and wonder if that child would live, and if he lived what problems would he have. Our twin grand babies have taught us so much about carrying that kind of burden.

Most recently, I could only look in from the outside and sympathize with those who have suffered a stroke or other disabling physical experiences. Then I tumbled down the basement stairs and broke my right arm.

Suddenly I too cannot use that arm. I am like a little child learning to feed himself. I have to suffer the dependence of having Bill zip my coat, help me dress, even pull up the covers at night.

Unlike a stroke victim I can still speak clearly, I can walk just fine, and I have a full expectation that my arm will heal completely in six months. But my heart will now ache whenever I hear of someone who has suffered a stroke, or any bone break. I now share their burden.

Paul tells us in Galatians 2 that when we do this “we fulfill the law of Christ.”

Remember, when asked on several occasions, Jesus said the law could be summed up in two statements: love God with our entire being and love our neighbor as ourselves. Carrying someone else’s burden is loving them in the way we want to be loved.

The most supportive person, the most empathetic and caring (carrying) person in my broken arm episode has been my fried who cut a finger on her right hand so severely that she needed surgery and therapy. She knows what I am experiencing..and she cares.

In the hustle and bustle of this sometimes frantic world, may we each take time to stoop, pick up and help carry someone else’s burden.