Lighten Up

Matthew 11:30

The Message (MSG)

 ^28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Bolded by me.)

I'm mainly talking to myself here but if you want to keep reading, I could sure use the company! There has been more "heavy" moments than "light". But I can see that there is a pattern here. In the midst of the "heavy", I have failed to look for the "light".


A few weeks ago, J's stepmom passed away. In spite of it being a difficult one, there were a few moments of lightening up. One, I don't usually view the body in the casket. I would much rather remember the person before they passed away. But, following J's lead as he went up to the casket, I looked. I mean, REALLY LOOKED! I tried to hide the disturbed look on my face but the moment I sat down, J asked, "What???"


I whispered, "She looks wooden!" 


He whispered back, "I wouldn't know, I didn't look."


So, then I started to whine about how I wouldn't have looked if I didn't think he was going to look. Then in his best Rickey Ricardo voice, he whispered, "Baaaabe!" 


Wanting the last word, I said, "Well she did. Why is it that when people die, they just don't look like themselves anymore? I mean, she looked better when she was alive." Then, realizing what I had said, we both started to laugh.  It helped to lighten up a situation that was pretty heavy.

Recently, J had a horrible cough that the doctor diagnosed as bronchitis. He called from the doctor's office to tell me what the doctor said. What I heard was, "I have bigger problems. I'm bleeding from my boobies." (I have no idea why he would say that OR how I heard that from the very beginning.) I hung up the phone and went to Webmd.com and did a search for that symptom in males and it pointed to breast cancer. I couldn't breathe. I started pacing the floor, trying to figure out how to handle telling J that I had already diagnosed him. Finally, I called him and said, "So, how bad is the bleeding?" 


J said, "Huh?"


Me: "You know, your boobie bleeding."


J sighed and said, "Babe, I never said my boobies were bleeding. Where did you get an idea like that?"


I told him, "Never mind. I'm just relieved because I had already diagnosed it and it wasn't looking very good for you."


Once more, a heavy situation made light.

Just when I think that things can't get any harder to bear, I'm given a chance for the load that I'm carrying to be lightened. It's sorta like being in a long checkout line and another checkstand opens up and the checker points at me and says, "I'll take you next." Whew! That's what I'm talking about!!


Has your load been pretty heavy? Hoping you'll find ways to have it lightened up.