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Getting rid of your burdens

By Reverend W. Flemon McIntosh Jr. | The News Herald

Published: October 15, 2009

There is a beautiful song of advice that we sing so often in our churches. "Take Your Burdens To The Lord and Leave Them There" is easy to sing and speak, but sometimes it is hard to do. Many take their burdens to the Lord, but then they pick them up and take them back from whence they come.
Many of our major problems come to us because we do not know how to rid ourselves of the burdens of life. It is so hard for some folks to turn loose and let go. Many of the heartaches that are among us come from the fact that people have not mastered the art of dumping their burdens.
When you tune in to the problems of many folks, you will discover a common area of concern. Many of them do not want to rid themselves of their burdens. They have not learned how to walk away from it all and leave it in the hands of the Master.
Now we must admit that there are some crazy things going on all around us and in many far away places in this world. Sometimes we are left confused, for one official will appear on TV saying one thing and then another one will give you a different version of the same item.
Court cases are being overturned because of technical errors that have nothing to do with the crime itself. This is really so absurd. But this is nothing new. Pity the poor children. They do not have movies that they can watch without a PG rating.
Day by day, burdens are dumped in our laps. Some people face the problems of life by trying to dismiss these without doing the proper things.
We cannot run from responsibilities. We must come to grips with our burdens and problems. We must work for a solution. This is where so many fail. We do not solve the problem by just looking at it and getting up each morning and crying about it.
We are not to be distracted by these things that bring us burdens. We know that they are there and they are for real. There comes a time in our lives when we must face the realities, but we are not to be absorbed by them.
For goodness' sake, let us not be distracted by the crazy things of this world, where so many things seem upside-down. We feel for those people who think that everything in life should be soft and sweet, but who are thrown for a loss the first time some difficulties present themselves.
As we make this journey through this crazy world, we soon learn that there are others with the same problems. And if we look hard enough, we will discover others who have solved these problems. We need to talk to the wise and the experienced. They have much to tell us.
The most trouble is produced by those who do not produce anything else. Our burdens and troubles, like babies, grow larger by nursing. We must be able to work our way through the rough times of life. The brook would lose its song if you removed the rocks.
It was Calvin Coolidge who said, "Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine times out of 10 someone will intercept it before it reaches you." The world would be a better place in which to live if, in these troubled times, we turned to God and lived by His teachings.
Overcoming trouble and problems will develop power within us. It will help us over the next mountain. When we reach the point in life that our burdens become heavy and they absorb us, this is when we need to call on the supreme power to help us. Once we have put our all into the solution and gave it our best, then leave it with the Master. This is hard to do, but it is good for our health. Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.
W. Flemon McIntosh Jr. is the senior columnist for The News Herald and is the former pastor of the Green Street Presbyterian Church, USA.