A Burden Sharer
I was
digging through a pile of discarded books one day and found an absolute
gem. It’s entitled, “Prayers for People
Under Pressure,” written by Dr. Donald Deffner.
The book is nearly 20 years old and out of print, although you can probably
find a copy at one of the on-line book dealers.
Deffner has written nearly one hundred prayers in a poetic form. For those who are dealing with an inordinate
amount of stress or need encouragement to persevere in difficult situations,
Deffner’s prayers will offer care and help.
As I’ve used the book myself, again and again I’ve thought, “He has
written these prayers especially for me!”
Let
me offer you an example. If you’ve ever
been tempted to throw a pity party for yourself, Deffner’s prayer, “The
Fellowship of Suffering,” would be very meaningful. This is the prayer:
O God, prevent me from the pretentiousness
of thinking I am unique in my suffering and from a self-pity that I am alone in
my struggle. Move me by Your Spirit to
seek out the fellowship of burden-bearers, my comrades of the cross. Reveal to me my affinity with those
distressed throughout the world, that we, knit together in love, may share in
Christ’s sufferings and be like Him in His death. Make me not only a burden-bearer but a
burden-sharer.
Deffner’s
prayer reminds us of an important truth.
To cancel the invitation to a pity party, you need to get out of
yourself. In other words, by helping a
family member or friends carry a difficult burden or trouble, you suddenly come
to realize that your problem isn’t so bad or too great that it should crush or
depress you.
That
was the apostle Paul’s simple admonition to the Galatians. In chapter six, verse two, the apostle wrote:
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of
Christ.”
You
know how much easier it is when you have an extra pair of hands to lug a bag of
cement to your backyard or to carry a heavy sofa-sleeper upstairs to a second
floor. That kind of help is such a
blessing. You provide the same kind of
help when you join another person and help them carry a burden or problem. In this way, you make the burden your
own. You begin to pray for that person. You ask how you might help them. Before you know it, you’ve moved your burden
to the back-burner, so to speak. It
doesn’t seem to be as nearly impossible to deal with as your first thought.
One
other blessing of being a burden-bearer is that you also become a
burden-sharer. You see how much you’ve
helped others – you realize that you can be helped in the same way. What a meaningful blessing it is to know that
you’re not alone when a loved one is suffering, an unexpected bill zaps your
bank account or a family member seems to be on a one-way trip to
destruction. You share your burdens. Others share theirs with you. Together, you love and support and care for
one another.
One
more thing – Paul wrote that to carry each other’s burdens was to “fulfill the
law of Christ.” This doesn’t mean that
Jesus laid down some kind of legal requirement for you to carry out. In this case, what Paul is referring to is
the model or example that Jesus sets for us.
Our Lord is the greatest burden-bearer the world has ever known. He carried the heavy burden of our sins to
the cross in order that we might enter the Kingdom of God. Having received that gift by faith, Jesus
sets the example for each of us to follow.
So why don’t you cancel those invitations to the pity party you were
going to throw. Instead, look for
someone who might be blessed to have your two extra hands helping them with a
heavy burden.
