The Call to Carry
With all of the hype and fear surrounding the Coronavirus, I see a call to serve others, an opportunity to share the love of Christ in a big way. I am reminded of the verse, Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 NIV)
So what does it look like to carry one another’s burdens? There are so many different ways we can do this. When someone can no longer believe or hope, we can believe and hope for them. We can hold them up in prayer. The ways we can serve each other are endless.
A few months back my daughter chose to carry another’s burdens in a big way. Through the walls of our living room, we heard an accident outside. The piercing howl of the injured animal drew my darling girl. Without thought of what she might see, she rushed out the door and toward the anguished cries of a young dog. When the driver of the car fled the scene, my daughter choose to do something. Moved with compassion, she climbed into the ditch and cradled the dog’s head until the very end. My baby girl couldn’t imagine leaving the animal alone unloved, so she stayed carrying the dogs burden the only way she could by offering her comforting presence.
Over the years, I’ve had people step in and carry my burdens. When our middle daughter died, parents that had also lost a child long before it was time, came and stood next to us at her funeral. They didn’t offer us words of comfort, instead they supported us with their presence. I will never forget how that made me feel nor how it gave me the courage to face the rest of that day.
Recently a teen I know with a bad home life has been on my heart. I have been trying to find a safe place for them to go, but have come up empty handed. While pouring my heart out in prayer, the opening verse came to mind and I realized that God was asking me to step in and carry this burden myself. So I took the idea to my family expecting to be buffeted. Instead, I found that the other’s in my household were experiencing the same promptings I was.
A few days later, I was notified of a group that was looking for parents to adopt a child for graduation. There are young adults who won’t have anyone there for them on their big day. So I approached my husband who exclaimed, “Why not! I guess God is asking us to be a parent to the unwanted, unloved, and parentless.
How can you carry someone else’s burden today? Is there someone in your circle who needs you to stand in the gap for them? When God places someone in our paths or on our hearts, let us not sit back and wait for someone else to step in. Instead, let us be the arms and feet of Jesus that we might fulfill the law of Christ.
