As you all know by now, I am a people person. I am blessed with many friends whom I love dearly and this is such a blessing to me. Every now and then, though, one of my friends will hand me a huge, heavy boulder.
The first time this happened, I didn’t know what to do. For awhile I tried carrying it around with me. After all, it was something very important to my friend so it seemed wrong to just stick it in a closet or set it on a shelf. The problem was that is was, well, heavy.
I also found that it got in the way of doing other things. As long as I was holding one friend’s boulder, I couldn’t seem to get close to other friends and I most certainly couldn’t carry anyone else’s boulder, my arms were full!
The boulder began to turn into a strange pet of sorts. I couldn’t seem to part from it, but it was also very demanding of my emotions. Instead of getting lighter, the boulder seemed to get heavier the longer I held it. As much as I longed to set it down, that didn’t appear to be the right solution. How could I leave it sitting there alone?
Finally, I heard a still, small voice tell me what to do. “Give it up.” Up? How could I lift this thing up, it is heavy! Again, “give it up.” And so I lifted, slowly, slowly. As I did, I felt God’s gentle hands reach down carry it up the rest of the way to Him.
I learned that I was never meant to carry people’s hurts and burdens their, “boulders,” most of the time people aren’t even desiring that. I am meant to lovingly listen and then carry those hurts straight to God for Him to heal. Sometimes, when I hear something especially heavy, I will even physically go through the motion of handing it up to Him. I can be confident that He loves my friends even more than I do and that I can trust their burdens, and them, to Him.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all of your cares on Him because He cares for you.” I Peter 5:6-7
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