Jenn's Journey from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy Monday! I am happy to be here on the blog today and to have you join me. I hope you have a few moments to sit, read, and enjoy… here is to a blessed day!!
Galatians 6:2 says “Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ." (NLT) I've been thinking a lot about this verse this week. I was in the bank the other day, the second one of the day, attempting to practice patience! One of the women ahead of me was older, and seemed to be sharing her life story with the teller. I found myself feeling irritated as to why she felt the need to hold up the line. That was my first thought. My second thought was how nice the teller was being by taking the time to listen and be kind to this woman who obviously wanted to talk. I was immediately ashamed of my attitude.
The verse above says 'bear one another's burdens.” In another translation, it says, “to bear with means to hold up, support, carry, put up with, accept, endure, sustain.” Just reading that verse makes me feel tired. That is a lot to do for those we love, let alone someone we don't know. I fall short of this easily. I find it easy to tire of sharing burdens. Yet, God has pressed it upon my heart that I need to take another look at what He is calling me to do.
In my Bible commentary, it calls burdens “heaviness” or “weight,” and goes on to say that “the application of this verse could solve the ills of the world”! Wow. Doesn't that make you think? By just considering what someone else is going through, even when I do not know them, and acting accordingly I could help change my corner of the world.
I went on to read about sympathy, empathy and compassion. It seems those words are interchangeable. Empathy: the sympathetic understanding of another person. Sympathy: fellow-feeling, and compassion. Compassion: a feeling of sympathy. If I am honest with myself, I have to say that those feelings are difficult to sustain, and sometimes to even have!
So where do I get the ability? Once again, from the grace of Jesus and His promise to change my heart into one that looks like His. I have to first lay my burdens down at His feet so that He can give me what it takes to help another person. It's the only way. If I have my own way, I am too much in a hurry to take the time to listen and sympathize, or I am too consumed with my own issues.
If you are weighed down by something, I pray you find God a willing burden-bearer. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. Oh, that we would all seek to be who God called us to be to one another and help change this world!
Until next week,
be blessed.

Jenn