When You Get Weary

I watched her as she made her way across the parking lot.  She struggled with a toddler on each hip and a baby in a carrier on her back.  Perfectly balanced yet precariously upright, I wondered if a wiggle from one of the toddlers would tip the whole equation and send them all spilling to the ground.  The look on her face said it all.  Weary and overwhelmed.

I thought of her when I read Psalm 145:14:  “The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.”  The Hebrew word for “bowed down” is Kaphaph which means “bent double.” 

You don’t have to be a young mother juggling three children to be “bent double.”  Maybe sorrow, disappointment, or heartbreak has you overwhelmed.  Perhaps you are struggling to carry the weight of a single parent household or the responsibility of caring for an aging parent.  Whatever it is that has you bowed down, allow the words of Jesus to fill your heart, straighten your back, and carry your load.  “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mat. 11:28)  Let Jesus be your burden bearer.