Listen

Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are important when they aren’t, they’re fooling themselves. Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others.

Galatians 6:2-4

Think

For a few years, a close friend and I had backpacks that were very similar. Occasionally, I would pick up hers, mistaking it as mine. I would often be caught off guard by the change in how heavy or light the bag was that I assumed to be mine. In those moments it was really clear the weight that my friend was carrying.

Paul was likely not imagining a backpack, but the image of carrying something heavy for others can be seen in this text. We all carry around things, whether physical or emotional, that are heavy. We don’t always realize what other people carry with them until we ask or pay attention.

The law of Christ that the author of Galatians is referring to here is to love God and your neighbor as yourself. To love other people well, we must consider what burden it is that they are carrying and how we can help them hold some of that load by meeting a need, listening well, or showing up with love and gentleness.

Taylor Long

Question to Ponder:

How can you help carry a friend’s burden?

Pray

God, help me to pay attention to the burdens that my friends are carrying with them. Help me to listen to them and to act with love, justice, and gentleness to lighten their loads. Today I pray for the burden that … is carrying.

Amen.

Go

Go knowing that the Holy Spirit has created space for you to do the sacred work of bringing justice and love on earth as it is in heaven.