“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Unpacking burdens

Begins with repentance

So many of the burdens I carry

Of my own making

Lord forgive me for pride

For a defensive spirit

For failing to listen well

Humility is so much sweeter

A humble and teachable heart is a lovely thing

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.  Psalm 51:17

Lord forgive me for selfishness

For self-sufficiency

For prayerlessness

It isn’t because I fear that prayer is passive

That it is so often my last action

Instead of my first

But because I know it is powerful

Because I know it will change me

And my heart does not always want to be changed

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.  Isaiah 30:15

Lord forgive me for a lack of trust in you

For the desire to control what is not mine to control

How often is it a choice of the way of the flesh

Over the way of the Spirit

As C. S. Lewis says, like “an ignorant child” who is “making mud pies”

Not understanding “the offer of a holiday at the sea”

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32

Lord forgive me for a lack of forgiveness

For allowing the seed of bitterness to be watered

If only I saw my sin for what it really is

To understand how ridiculously, outrageously forgiven

I am

How much quicker would I be

to forgive others?

Unpacking burdens

Begins with repentance

So many of the burdens I carry

Of my own making