\u201cCome to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden light\u201d. That really struck me and strikes me every time I hear it because it doesn\u2019t seem to be so, does it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of us face burdens and trials in life and some of them seem really hard, not easy. We lose our jobs; we get illnesses, some of them chronic; we lose a parent or spouse or child. We are accosted by difficult people; we are burdened with debt, fear, or the unknown. And even though we pray for help it still seems really hard sometimes, doesn\u2019t it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s especially hard when multiple problems have to be faced at the same time because we feel that we have to be in control at all times; and when we get hit from all sides, we don\u2019t feel in control. That makes the whole dilemma seem that much worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the first reading today gives some special insight about God\u2019s relationship with us. God makes it abundantly clear that we cannot hide anything from him. No matter how much we think that we are in control and can circumvent fate ourselves; the reality is that God knows; He always knows; and but for the grace of God, none of our actions to do anything would be effective. So, we are never really ever in control; God is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isaiah speaks of God\u2019s intimate knowledge of each member of His army; He knows each of them by their name and He leads them. So, no matter what, the Lord is there to lead the way. We can resist; or we can cooperate, it\u2019s up to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, Isaiah says that even young men faint and grow weary. So those of us who are strong and like to be in control- beware; you will eventually faint and grow weary. Our energy is limited, and we just can\u2019t get there by ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Lord does not grow weary- ever. Isaiah says that the Lord gives strength to the faint. So, if we let God lead, let Him take control, we will be strengthened in what we do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, that\u2019s basically what Jesus is talking about as well. We are all called to turn over our burdens to the one who is in control- God. This means that we trust in God. It does not mean that we abandon our efforts. Rather, we trust that God will lead us through whatever we are faced with. We still need to act; but we act knowing that God is behind us all the way. Now when we try to control everything, and things don\u2019t go our way; well, that usually results in very bad feelings inside- anger, hate, jealousy, disappointment, and lots of other negative emotions. But when we trust in God and let Him lead us; He may just grace us with unexpected outcomes. Sometimes those outcomes are even better than we ever imagined. Often we get a feeling of satisfaction from the Lord; an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction that God has heard us; that he loves us; and that we are in harmony with him. Those feelings of harmony are in stark contrast to the feelings of resentment we get when we try to be in control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are hard times that all of us will have to endure in life. But if we trust in the Lord and turn it over to him, we will be sure to find rest for ourselves- the eternal rest that never ends. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent Is 40: 25-31; Mt 11: 28-30 Deacon Larry Brockman \u201cCome to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden light\u201d. That really struck me and strikes me every time I hear it because it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[612,611],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1206,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions\/1206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}