I was watching an old Western movie the other day, which tells you that my day was not very exciting. The story involved a family of cowboys making the long trek over the mountains to get to their new homestead. As was often the case in those days, the family made the decision to leave their current home and travel to unknown places in search for a better life. I am not sure I would have the courage to make that leap of faith but it was always admirable to watch others make those journeys.
If you think about it, the journey was pretty remarkable. Just traveling by horseback for that many miles would be tough enough. The danger of climbing rocks and cliffs along with the possibilities of running into predators such as bears and cougars. Not to mention, the constant search for food and water along the way. Not fun by any stretch of the imagination.
One thing that caught my eye as I was watching this movie was that everything this family owned was basically packed on the backs of pack mules meandering down and around those winding trails. The mules carried those tremendous weights and burdens of the family’s belongings through the entire journey. Finally, at the end of each day, the packages and boxes were lifted off the backs of the mules so that they could rest for the night. It had not really hit me before watching this movie that the burdens of those mules could only be lifted by someone else.
What a wonderful analogy of our own life’s burdens and our relationship with Christ. How many times do we go through life carrying weight after weight and burden after burden. Unfortunately, we carry those burdens until we seemingly collapse and never realize that it is Christ who can remove those burdens from our life.
The next time you are feeling overwhelmed and over-burdened, just ask yourself: Are you carrying too much of a burden yourself? Try letting Christ lighten your load and your path will be much easier.
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