Thought of the Day !!

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

                                 Matthew 11:29-30 (HCSB)

How many of us are always complaining about our lot in life.  "My struggles are so bad."  "Nobody knows what I go through."  "Woe as me."  And our struggles in life bog us down because we allow them to become our focal point.

Maybe you've heard the story of the room of crosses where someone is complaining to Jesus about how his cross (burden) is too heavy to bear.  Jesus opens a room filled with crosses and tells the person to pick out any other cross he would prefer to bear.  They are many and varying in sizes.  He looks and looks and after a while he sees the smallest one in the room, only to notice that it's the one he carried in with him. 

Maybe our burdens are too heavy because we're carrying them all alone.  We complain to others, but they can't carry them for us.  They can't take away the pain.  I will admit that Jesus has given me people close to me to help when I've needed a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear to hear.  But what we need more than anything, no one but Jesus can give to us.  He's the one that offers peace and assurance and true rest.  Come to him and take up his yoke, and He will give you the help you need with yours.  Then both will become bearable, and joy will be found...even in the pain and hardship. 

That's what Jesus does.  Instead of taking away the pain, he gives us a way to joyfully suffer for His sake and grow from it.  We can choose to complain about everything, or we can choose to grow into Christ and become strong enough to get through anything (because He's with us).

In the love of Christ,

greg