Every once in a while I come across an article that I love—or learn so much from—that I want to share it with E V E R Y B O D Y. Jennifer Slattery’s post where she shares another author’s thoughts on the difference between easing someone’s burden and unnecessarily taking on another person’s load is one of these articles. According to Sherri Wilson Johnson, a burden is something that has been placed upon us without any wrongdoing on our part (like a birth defect or growing up in an abusive home). A load, on the other hand, is something you have picked up on the road of life and chosen to carry, even though it has made your way harder.
We must never do for others what they should be doing for themselves, yet too often we fall victim to our own tendency to be overly helpful and understandably frustrated when loaded down people take advantage of our niceness. When I think of the countless times that I have rescued someone from their own insubordination, I am appalled by mine. Galatians 6:5 tells us that “each one should carry their own load” yet over and over I find myself ignoring this command, not just at my peril, but also someone else’s.
I am tired of sweeping up after someone else’s stubborn choices. Aren’t you? Galatians 6:7 tells us that “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” so let’s stop getting in the way and take Hebrews 12:1 to heart as we throw “off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” and run the race that was meant for us, NOT another sinner, by easing other people’s burdens without taking on unnecessary pain.
Ever since I migrated my newsletter to a blog format, I have been trying to find a rhythm that allows me to share what’s on my heart without overcrowding your inboxes. I have also been struggling with what to write: thinking that my readers will be confused or disappointed if I publish anything other than the carefully crafted life lessons they have become accustomed to.
The problem with this approach is that a lot of the information I want to pass along goes unrecorded because I don’t have time to edit my thoughts into a well-polished piece or enough time hasn’t passed since my last post.
Experience has taught me that, by trying too hard to please people, I actually annoy them. With this in mind, I’m going to post with reckless abandon (make that mild restraint) and give this blog a chance to become everything it has the potential to be. As Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend once said: Sometimes on the road of life, getting lost is how we find our way.
Going forward, look for an e-mail once a week with links to my latest posts. If you wish to receive them more frequently, or if you find that you are still getting e-mails as I post them and want to change your preferences to the publication’s default schedule of once a week, scroll to the bottom of your latest feedblitz-generated e-mail from me and click on the link to change your delivery schedule preferences.
If you’re the only person who’s standing in your way, maybe it’s time to move.
By trying too hard to please people, you actually annoy them.