Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

If you read that verse and you are instantly thinking ~ “give me a break Janet, I can barely handle my own stuff right now!” Then this is more for you than you may think, just keep reading.  

If you have ever flown on a plane you know that they always tell you when they go over the safety instructions that if the oxygen mask drops down to put yours on first so you can help others.  (On one plane I was on the guy said, “and then do it in order of potential when you put the masks on your children. He was joking of course). We are called to bear each other burdens but that requires that you start taking care of yourself.  This is part of the reason God has commanded us to take a day of rest ~ the Sabbath is for you and your family and a time to focus on God and His goodness.  You can’t help others if you don’t take care of yourself.  You need rest in order to refresh your mind.  You need time to read stories to your children, take a nice bubble bath, or go for a walk.  You need time to sort out what needs to go.  You need time to laugh.  You may need to adjust your thinking and allow someone to do something for you. You may need to stop and give those burdens to God if you haven’t.

The weekend is here and hopefully, if you don’t have to go to work you can take some time to stop for a moment and evaluate what has got to go.  If you have already done that and you feel as though life is pretty balanced then are you serving God on some level?  Is there something that could go so you can reach others for Him?  Maybe there’s a couple in your church that you could pay for a sitter and give them a gift card to go on a date because you know they probably can’t afford to themselves and yet they need it just like everyone else.  Be His hands and feet!  Just take the time to love on others by smiling and saying “hi”, or paying it forward, whatever God may show you take the time to lift someone else’s burden for just a moment.

Have you ever played the game of “Life”?  My granddaughter and I were playing it the other night and she said, “have you ever thought about the fact that most people in this game are homeless and they are all driving cars without a license because only one person can get a license in the game and it costs them “$50,000 which is the policeman’s salary for a year, so that’s why you don’t see them either.  LOL. She is such a funny kid and finds humor in everything, but the other point was that everyone is just buzzing through life and it’s all about what you get and how much you have at the end of the game.  Unfortunately, that is often the mindset in our world today, hurry, hurry and get what you can and no one has time for anyone else. That’s why God’s word tells us that if we want His blessing we are to be looking around and we are to slow down so we can be His hands and feet.  His blessing will come as we focus on Him and allow Him to guide us in all that we do so we can also be a blessing to others leading them to Him.  

Quote:  “Each one of us will one day be judged by our standard of life, not by our standard of living, by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not by our seeming greatness.”  ~ William Arthur Ward