![[Photo of handing a box to another person]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/burden_carrying.jpg)
| Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. |
| —Galatians 6:2 |
I have always lived a very independent life. I suppose this began in childhood. As an only adopted child who lived in a neighborhood where no other children lived, I became quite used to doing things for myself.
The last twenty years of my life have become quite a struggle, as increasingly I have lost the ability to do most things for myself. But, the beauty of my infirmity rests in the fact that God has given me this blessing so that I would learn to appreciate the loving care that I receive from others. So, the verse at the beginning of this blog post has come to mean so very much to me, even though I am always the one on the receiving end of the burden bearing of others.
The hardest part for me, as I try to learn how best to depend on the burden bearing of others, has come from the frustration I feel when I cannot do things for myself that, for most of my life, I did mostly without even thinking about a particular task. Please let me explain through this illustration:
Recently, the church I attend moved from our previous location at a hotel meeting room to a different building. The church I attend is now renting space from another congregation whose service times fall earlier on Sunday morning, giving our church the ability to hold services at a more normal time frame, just before noon. In setting up our sound system during a work day, I became very frustrated and my frustration gave those around me the false impression that I was angry.
Our sound equipment resides in a large professional equipment case. The case contains four wireless microphone receivers, the sound system 18-channel mixing engine, and a digital recorder. At this new location, we will plug the output from the equipment in this case into one of the normally unused inputs of the existing church’s sound system. This will allow us to use our normal equipment without disturbing the equipment setup used by the existing church.
A problem arose when no one present during our workday knew how to turn on the power to and operate the controls of the existing church’s sound system. The power switch, controls, and mixing board for that system exist on a raised platform at the rear of the sanctuary.
If I had been able to climb the two steps up onto that platform, because of my 62 years of working with professional sound system equipment, I would have known exactly what to do to turn the existing system on and how to set the controls so our sound system would operate properly through that existing system.
But, I can’t climb stairs—even two short steps. In trying to explain to someone else what he needed to do, my frustration with myslef came out in a way that offended a third person who was present.
When I was told how I had annoyed and offended the other person, I was heartbroken. I had never intended my frustration with myself to cause harm to someone else. I was ashamed and immediately placed a telephone call to the offended person in order to apologize. Fortunately that individual very graciously received my apology.
You see, the hardest thing for me to do is to contain my frustration with myself so that I don’t cause others to feel offended. Far too often, people perceive my frustration with myself as anger. They don’t realize that I am not angry—I am only frustrated with my inability to do the kinds of things that, in the past, I have always been able to do without help from anyone else.
I have to coach myself in every situation to not allow my frustration with myself to cause harm. In other words, part of allowing others to bear my burdens requires me to accept their burden bearing with grace and gratitude. Instead of frustration with my inability to do things for myself, I must learn how to experience the joy that God intends when someone willingly extends their help to me.
Burden bearing comes alive as a two-way street. The one who gladly gives of himself or herself in order to bear the burden of another fulfills the law of Christ. At the same time, the one whose burden is borne by another must also humbly and thankfully receive that burden bearing as the true gift from God that it is.
I’m trying very hard to learn this important lesson. Perhaps in sharing my own struggle with you, it will help you to view the subject of burden bearing in a new way. At least that is my fondest hope for this particular blog post.
