I decided I would share with you an interesting fact about myself in this week’s blog.  I’m certain you will be extremely impressed. Are you ready?  Here we go…….I am a professional grocery bag carrier.  I mean, someone should pay me for the level of talent I exude when carrying grocery bags.  I despise making multiple trips from my car to my home after purchasing groceries. I hate multiple trips so much that I have proudly carried as many as 21 bags at one time.  Sure, it’s uncomfortable and a little painful at times.  When you have heavy bags pressing into your arms and leaving bruises your natural instinct should be to lighten your load.  My instinct it to walk faster and put them down without having to do it multiple times. Apparently, my children have watched me and have begun repeating my same behavior. Whereas in the past I normally brought all the groceries in by myself, they now want to help. It’s amusing to watch my five and eight-year-old attempt to load themselves up with grocery bags that, at times, weigh more than they do.  My daughter (my eight-year-old) likes to impress me by carrying the heaviest bags she can find.  Sometimes, when the load is too heavy they will give up trying to carry them and simply drag them along.  At those moments, attempting to prevent an even bigger mess, I pick them up and carry them.  My instinct is to always help them anyway but, at times, their stubbornness and independence begs to do things on their own.  I’m older, stronger, and more capable.  Common sense would assume they would enlist my help.  But not always.

Don’t you do the same thing every day?  Don’t you carry burdens, stresses, and frustrations that are too heavy to carry?  Don’t you carry baggage around of things that happened decades ago?  I know I do.  I shouldn’t, but I do.  Lately I have become so overwhelmed with life at times that I have found myself in a purging mood.  I’ve started dropping things along the way that feel too heavy for me to carry.  Things I should have dropped years ago but felt the need to continue carrying around like I had superhuman strength.  I firmly believe God allowed me to get to this place.  I had to arrive at a place of total exhaustion and realization of my inabilities before I even acknowledged my Heavenly Father standing there with arms outstretched to help me.  And He’s been there all along!  Like my kids, I was too stubborn to ask for help.  But I guess they have been following my lead.  Psalm 55:22 reminds us, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”  If you’re feeling burdened about something, apparently you haven’t learned how to cast your cares.  You must cast your cares before you’ll reap the benefit that He will sustain you.  If you don’t first cast your cares you can’t inherit the promise of never being shaken. 

Closing remarks and encouragement:  What’s bothering you today?  Just drop it!  Feeling overwhelmed with life?  Start dropping things.  The Father is waiting there to do the heavy lifting for you.  Stop being so stubborn and independent.  Just drop it!