Are You Burdened?

Today I will not be burdened by my laundry. I will be blessed that I have drawers full of clothes at my disposal and a washer and dryer in my house.

Today I will not be burdened by my dirty dishes. I will be blessed that I have more than enough food to eat off those dishes each day.

Today I will not be burdened by my children. I will be blessed that I have children to raise when many others wait with empty arms.

Today I will not be burdened by my every day choices. I will be blessed that I have choices to make at all when many do not.

Today I will not be burdened by my cell phone ringing. I will be blessed that many people care about me and that I have the technology to stay in touch with them.

Today I will not be burdened by the bills I have to pay. I will be blessed that I have running water, central heat and hair, and other luxuries.

Today I will not be burdened by the price of gasoline. I will be blessed that I have a car to drive, insurance, and at least a few dollars for that gas.

Today I will not be burdened by home. I will be blessed because so many in the last year have lost their homes to natural disasters and a failing economy and are now homeless.

Today I will not be burdened by my FAITH. I will be blessed that I have a God who loves me and will care for me in any hour, but especially in my hour of need. Even if I don't sense it right away, God is always working for my good.

 Matthew 6:25-34 tells us not to worry:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Instead I WILL be burdened by the things that burdens God. 

Hunger, death, abuse, neglect, anger. He calls us to bear the burdens of others (Gal 6:2, "Help carry each other's burdens. In this way you will follow Christ's teachings.").

And Luke 9:23-26 tells us about taking up the burdens of Christ and losing our own...

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

 May God bless you in your journey to repent of self and taking up the cross of Christ. It IS hard. It IS a struggle. But the relationship with Him is Eternal, Everlasting.

Carrying one another's burdens. from http://www.artbible.net/