When my 28 year old daughter called and said, “Mom, I’m at the hospital and the doctor says I have a tumor and it is cancer…” my world as I knew it stopped.
She would be flying home the next day, so in a daze I headed to the grocery store. I stood in the bread isle for what seemed like forever … frozen and alone, unable to find the bread I was looking for … unable to focus and complete this one little task. Screaming inside, I thought, “Someone, anyone please help me.” I couldn’t concentrate. As the stranger (lady) pushed her cart down my isle, I cried inside, wanting desperately to tell her, “My baby has cancer!” I wanted her to care. Rather she glanced quickly towards me and walked right by.
How many times do we pass the stranger when we see a distraught look upon their face? How many times are we just too busy. How many times are we annoyed with the person going too slow in front of us, when we don’t really know their situation? Possibly they just lost a love one, or are facing a horrendous trial. Or they just received a diagnoses, or were abandoned by their spouse.
We pass by thousands of people each year. Are you listening to the nudge of the Holy Spirit? Who does He want to touch through you? Are you available?
Jesus said in Galatians 6:2 that we are to bear one another’s burdens.
Author Dutch Sheets, says that the word to “bear”, means to stake yourself to another, so they don’t fall. Much as a person would tie a stake to a tomato plant, to sustain it against the weight it carries. The strength of the stake is transferred to the plant, and thus bears it up.
We are called to bear others up, just like the stake holds up the weight of the vine. We are to carry the weight for others when they cannot carry their own load. One kind word or even a prayer breathed in quiet can ease the weight, even if just for a few moments.
Next time you see someone struggling, give them a smile, say a kind word or ask if you can help them. Allow the Holy Spirit to use you in carrying one another’s burdens.
XOXO Debra