We’ve all been there. Day after day we awake with our constant companion. It sits on our chest when we lay down, suffocating our experience of peace and hope. In the day, it rides on our shoulder like a backpack full of rocks. The whispers of its voice become the constant hum in the background of our hearts. Every decision we encounter carries its flavor, as if everything has been contaminated. Our contemplations are fruitless in seeking relief, and to expect a casting off becomes more and more a distant song that plays only to tempt our downcast heart.
Weariness and heart burdens are plagues upon our active, and fast-paced society. Both are real and obviously effective, as some days seemed marked by each of them in more ways than others. Over time, we learn to cope with their presence, never really gaining relief, nor expecting a life beyond them. It is here that we embrace the lie – “just move on” everyone says…”it will get better”. But better never comes, at least like we hope for.
Certainly life brings times when we are weakened by the journey and troubled by the burdensome weight we carry, whether self-imposed or received from others. But in spite of this reality, there is another truth that is greater. I wonder if we’ve missed it because we expect to do something ourselves or change the circumstances to gain the rest we seek? What if the answer lies not in something we do, but in someone we lean on?
Digging his feet into the soil of the earth and facing the growing crowds of Palestine, Jesus stood contesting the ways of our realm with the supernatural power of His own. I imagine every face he saw told a story that only he could hear in the deepest sense. Some were filled with joy, and some shared the heart wrenching pain of burdens too great, and tiredness too chronic. Into this tide of discouragement, He spoke…
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NLT)
The answer for our weariness and burdens lies not in doing something different, creating a new environment or even in running away. No, true rest comes in the embrace of a person who cares, loves, and esteems your life. Like you, He too has been weary and burdened by weights. He knows the experience of it at every level of his being – body, soul and spirit. However, it was His own Father’s love that brought the confident rest He sought, and now He offers the same to us.
No experience of weariness or burdens will ever grow stronger than the overwhelming influence and power of Jesus’ presence. He IS life, and His life IS greater. Everything bows before Him, even weariness and burdens. The light He brings reveals that each are only meant to be short-lived, as true life comes with joy, love and peace.
The invitation circles the globe every second. Jesus stands before us, arms opened wide, ready to embrace our tired and troubled hearts. His rest comes not as a answer for our present questions, but as a new vision for our life. We were fashioned to live in and through His rest, even in the midst of difficult times.
“Come to Me,” He calls to our hearts. Will we respond?
