During the month of October I’m joining The Nester’s 31 Day Challenge and writing “31 Days to Building Community”. I’m passionate about building relationships and growing in community together. To see all the posts in the series click here.
Carry one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2
What does it mean to carry one another’s burdens? We probably don’t hear the phrase that often, but if you’ve ever had someone carry your burdens for you, you know what it means.
We are not mean to walk this life alone, but to live in community and help each other. In our fast-paced world with a million resources at our finger tips, it’s very easy to try to be independent and figure things out on our own. So offering help and accepting help can be a challenge and a total mind shift for us.
So what are some ways you can carry burdens for your community?
- Prayer – ask for specific requests and be sure to follow up with them and see how the situation has developed.
- Kids – Can you offer to keep kids for a friend for an afternoon so she can catch up around the house, run errands or (blessed thought) take a nap?
- Take a meal – Sometimes it’s easy to think of taking a meal to someone when they’ve just had a baby or been through a tough time, but could you also bless a friend by simply taking the burden of a meal off of them for an evening?
- Listen – Sometimes all someone really needs is to share the burden by talking about it and having someone understand what they are going through.
- Groceries – Have you ever thought about calling your neighbor to see if she needs anything while you’re at the grocery store? What a surprise blessing that would be!
Carrying one another’s burdens depends largely on what is going on in the person’s life, but by listening to them and finding out their needs you can find ways to help that will help relieve the weight on their shoulders.
What are some ways that you can help lift burdens? Do you have a hard time letting others help you carry your burdens and trying to do it all yourself? (…I know I do…)
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