"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30(ESV)
For Reflection:
We all have burdens and trials. It’s all part of being human. Sometimes they are burdens we choose to take on, and other times these trials are thrust upon us whether we choose to accept or not. “Facticity” represents the limitations and conditions that are imposed on individuals rather than chosen. Kate Bowler, in her devotional, “Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!” explains, “All of our freedoms are constrained by so many unchangeable details.” The philosopher, Martin Heideggar refers to this existential state as the “thrownness” of human life. Bowler continues, “As we awake to the suffering of this world and our existence, we find ourselves hurtling through time. We reach out for something, anything, to steady us, but we are like astronauts untethered. That is a particular kind of grief – the awareness that we are not drivers of our circumstances, not anymore. We are unwilling passengers.”
But what if we were willing to be carried? I pause and wonder in what ways I’ve been and continue to be an unwilling passenger in my life. An unexpected injury or illness? A particularly trying time in my family? As I ponder these things, I’m reminded of the community that consistently came and continues to come around me in the midst of those uncontrollable circumstances; in the midst of the “facticity”. I remember too when I was able to reciprocate and do the same for others, and I’m struck with the realization that us humans are uniquely united by the commonality of our fragility.
And when we are all fragile together, what then? Who will carry us through these times? I think of the image of a shepherd carrying his sheep and am reminded of the analogy of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, carrying us. “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11. I picture myself relinquishing control, no longer an unwilling passenger, but instead a willing one. Jesus carrying his sheep through the rocky valleys; carrying me through the storms.
Let us pray:
God, I pray that you allow me to recognize the places in my life that I'm clinging to and being an unwilling passenger. Allow me to release hold and instead anchor myself in you, trusting you will carry me to safety as you so tenderly carried the sheep. I pray that as I navigate through trials, I would keep anchored in the hope that you have a plan and hold my tether secure. Amen.
In what ways are you an unwilling passenger in life right now?
What might it look like if you were willing to be carried?