Let's Start the New Year by Letting Go of Our Burdens and Resting in the Love of Jesus

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:29–30, WEB

How Can Our Burdens Be Light?

How can it be? How can any kind of burden be light? For years I have struggled in believing Jesus’ promise until I’ve realized what a heavy burden I have often carried.

What He said was true. And we often take on heavier burdens than we were meant to bear.

How blessed are those who listen and follow God’s words! How lighter would be our many burdens if we could only learn from Him and follow His ways. And what are His ways?

God’s ways are those that take us toward the path of love. When we love, we let go of so many things that make our souls suffer more.

He who loves lets go of anger. He who loves forgives. He does not fill His mind with thoughts of vengeance. He does not poison His heart with resentment, envy or jealousy.

He who loves shows kindness even to his enemies. He does not dwell upon the past faults of others. He is always ready to see people in a better perspective. Because he focuses on what is good, his heart is light.

The Things We Must Let Go

We should always be reminded to keep things light and not bring along so many things that merely hold us back, things that make our life’s journey even more difficult to bear. What are these things?

There are so many burdens we keep, but I will share with you three things that are easy to remember:

1. Anger

Anger weighs us down so much. Unless we could let it go, we’d always exhaust ourselves before we could even go far enough in our life’s journey.

At first, we may feel that it is pushing us intensely to do something, but later, we’d realize that it is really holding us back from doing the things we truly desire to do.

Let go of anger. Forgive, if not for the sake of the person who hurt you, for your own peace and healing.

2. Guilt

When you are not able to let go of guilt, you will only sabotage your own success. You will hold yourself back from your own happiness.

It is not that we shouldn’t do anything to make up for our mistakes. In fact, that’s what we should do! We should do all we can to ask forgiveness, to make up for our sins and to correct them. But then there will come a time when we, too, should forgive ourselves as God has forgiven us.

3. Greed

Another thing that hinders us from traveling light is greed. When we are so concerned with material things that we become bound to them, we become victims of our own greed.

Greed is trying to get more than what you need. Greed is carrying more than what you can carry.

Greed steals the time you should have spent with the people you love. You spend so much time trying to amass wealth, time you could have spent loving and being loved.

God’s Burden

Travel light. Carry only what you need. We often feel so weary in life because we carry burdens God never meant for us to bear.

We can’t let go of our worries because we feel anxious of things we could never control. We can’t let go of anger and resentment, and we fill our hearts with hatred and desire for vengeance. We take on more work than we could perform in order to chase dreams that could never really satisfy the soul. We strive and we labor, but our efforts often prove in vain.

Why not let go of these heavy burdens and take on instead the light burden that Jesus gives? It is light because it is free from anxiety and hatred; it is free from the love of the world and from fear. It is light because it is filled with peace and with love. It is light because we do not carry it alone. Jesus carries it with us, and this is the source of our strength and our joy.

“Love is a great thing, greatest of all goods, because it alone renders light every burden and bears equally all that is unequal. Because it carries a burden without feeling it, and renders sweet and pleasing every bitterness.” — Thomas Kempis

You Need Not Bear Them Alone

“I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” — St. Augustine

There are many times when we just feel so tired and exhausted. We were told to do our best and we did, but there still seems to be a very long way to go. We were told to give our all and we gave everything, but we have reaped nothing for all our years of labor and pain.

In times like that, we can look to Him who knows how hard we have already tried. To Him who has compassion upon us. To Him alone who can refresh us and give us rest.

O, weary one, you need not carry your burden alone. You need not feel you’re on your own. You have a Father who cares for you, who is ready to catch you when you feel so weak that you’d fall.

Rest upon Him and let Him carry you through. Let His love empower you. Let His kindness soothe your every ache and pain. Upon His strong and loving arms, your burden becomes light and even your bitterness becomes sweet.

Sometimes, God gives us burdens so He can give us wings.

Burdens and Wings

“He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.” — Isaiah 40 (WEB-BE)

I tried to escape your burdens, Lord. From troubles, I tried to flee. Little did I know they would strengthen me. Little did I know they would set me free.

For the burdens you give are sweet, Lord. They are sweet because You carry it with me. And the burdens you give are light, Lord. They are light because you turn them into wings to carry me!

“When I see that the burden is beyond my strength, I do not consider or analyze it or probe into it, but I run like a child to the Heart of Jesus and say only one word to Him: “You can do all things .” And then I keep silent, because I know that Jesus himself will intervene in the matter, and as for me, instead of tormenting myself, I use that time to love Him.” — St. Faustina, Divine Mercy In My Soul (1033)

Jocelyn Soriano is a full-time Catholic writer. You can see her books at her Gumroad store or Amazon profile page.