Take My Yoke Upon You

Text:  28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 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.30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection: It has been a long five days. These five days have felt like weeks. Each day brought new realities, new fears, and new questions. It seems incredible that one can pack that much emotional and mental effort into five simple days. Bob and I keep shaking our heads in disbelief: “was it really only a week ago we had that conversation?” “Was it really only five days we closed our doors from the first time in a century?”

I talked to friends that are parents and we are exclaiming with disbelief (and a little bit of terror) this is only day 3 of no school, no play dates, and no sports. We have many more weeks to go! As I got my bearings, I returned to this familiar and comforting passage. Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. These five days have left many of us weary. We carry burdens not only of our own changed circumstances but the burdens of those who are ill or isolated, who are hourly waged, who are single working parents, who cannot feed their family in the midst of this shutdown. We carry ours and theirs and we are weary. What Jesus offers in this passage is exactly what we crave. Rest for our souls. 

It is Thursday of what seems like the longest week ever. May you bring your weary and bring your burdens with the assurance that Jesus is willing and able to take them. May you lay them at His feet and accept the gift He offers; rest for our weary souls. 

Prayer: Lord we are weary and we carry heavy burdens, our own and others. Let our souls have rest. The journey is long and we crave the rest and teaching you offer. May you keep our hearts gentle and may you strengthen our souls through the rest you offer. 

Focus for the Day: Rest

Author: Darcy Crain