Pastor's Corner: Let others help with your load

Like many of you, I enjoy the outdoors, and one of my favorite things to do is hiking and backpacking. Our church has an annual backpacking trip each summer in the Kaiser Wilderness to an area called Twin Lakes. Along the way we see some beautiful country, but are also reminded how heavy a backpack can get!

In many ways life can be the same way. There are times it feels like a “walk in the park” and other times like an “uphill climb” while loaded down. The Apostle Paul uses a similar illustration in Galatians 6:1-5 when he instructs the believers to “carry each other’s burdens” and fulfill the “law of Christ,” which is love.

The word for “burden” is a Greek word that describes a load too heavy for one person to handle. Part of loving others is to help with the “loads of life” that we sometimes encounter.

At the end of this passage, Paul says we must all carry our “own load,” which is a Greek word describing something like a backpack. In other words, life is not always going to be like a walk in the park, but will be hard at times.

When we experience the overwhelming burdens of life, we are reminded how much we need one another to “carry on” even while we may be juggling our “own load.” This is one of the many reasons Jesus calls us to be part of a local church.

If life was “park-like” we could just wave as we went by, but we know it’s not. Let me encourage you to not only carry your own load, but become part of a local church and help carry the overwhelming burdens of others.

Pat Coyle is pastor of the Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church.