As Christians, we are called to bear one another’s burdens. Burdens such as sin and stumbling, sorrows and grief, and weaknesses. Why do we bear burdens? Because Christ bore ours. Jesus said in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NIV)

Fun fact: Belgian Draught horses can weigh up to 2,200 pounds. They do heavy work, and a single Belgian Draught horse can pull up to 8,000 pounds. On their own. That’s like a full-grown male hippopotamus. Very heavy. So paired with another horse, they can pull up to 16,000 pounds, right? Nope! Paired with another Belgian Draught horse, they can pull up to 24,000 pounds. When they are trained together, they can pull up to 32,000 pounds! That’s insane.

I promise, that ties into what I’m getting at here. Gimme a sec.

Now, imagine you are hiking up a mountain. You have your buddy, whoever they may be, and y’all are just walking along when your buddy falls into a hole! You pull them out, and apparently they broke their leg. So you gently set the bone and you sling their arm around your shoulder, and you guys walk down the mountain. You help your buddy, and everything’s okay!

When it comes to sharing burdens, we want to be there to pull our friend out of the hole and help carry their weight down the hill. They can’t walk with a broken leg by themselves! And they can’t walk with their burdens by themselves either.

We are connected as Christians, as children of God, and as humans to bear one another’s burdens. If you’ve read the book of Job, you would know that he went through a lot of bad stuff. In chapter two, after Job has lost all his family and livestock and is covered in painful sores, his three friends come to comfort him. They approach him and they sit down beside Job, who is covered in ashes, and they sit with him for a week. They don’t do anything. They just sit there. It’s a beautiful story and the last sentence of the chapter says, “No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:13 NIV)

When it comes to sharing burdens, you don’t have to worry about fixing anything, you just need to be there. Help carry the weight. We are called to bear one another’s burden because Christ bore ours.

So like those Belgian Draught horses (told ya it’d be tied in!) we are called to carry half the load, and when we do, we can pull so. much. more. than anyone can pull by themselves.

~Willow