A few months ago a dear friend invited me to attend a Bible study at her church. Had it been a knitting club, I would have declined. However, a Bible study I could do. It was a wonderful study on the book of Colossians that ended before we had scratched the surface. We learned so many things. God holds all things together. The wonderful mystery that is Christ in us, the hope of glory. The beauty of being kind, showing love, and raising families that represent Christ. Oddly, the greatest thing I learned was not in the passages that make up Colossians.
On the last day of the study, in the midst of a spectacular spiritual battle, I sat there and listened as the other ladies spoke about what the study had meant to them. We all had found something personal therein. I couldn't decide what to share. All I could think about was the heat of the battle I was in and how to endure. When my turn came, I did something I have never, not once in my life, done. I looked at those ladies of God, dissolved in tears and admitted to being so deep in a spiritual battle that I felt like giving up, throwing in the towel, walking away. Alas, all was not lost. I found in their midst encouragement to go on, prayers added to my own, and Bible passages I had forgotten existed. More importantly, I learned the beauty of Galatians 6:2, "Bear ye one another's burdens..."
I find it interesting that the Apostle Paul simply said to bear one another's burdens. He offered no limitations, no caveats, no exclusions. There's no mention of ignoring those who don't attend your church, don't dress the same way, or who don't share your views on every possible doctrine. No, just a simple instruction to come alongside, encourage, pray for, lift up our fellow Christians no matter who, where, or what they are.
The ladies in that Bible study were a lovely example of this passage. In the midst of my own confusion and trouble, they shared with me their strength and I was encouraged to continue. Thus, I began to contemplate why we don't come to one another in honest need as much as we should--if at all. Why don't we just walk in to Sunday School, church, Bible study, or small group and express our burdens so we can all encourage one another, pray for one another, and bear one another's burdens? Why not? At a time when there are support groups for every imaginable life issue, what's stopping us?
Some would say that we are too proud, too cowardly, too much in denial to admit we are struggling. And they might be right. Personally, I think the problem is deeper. I think experience, either our own or another's, has shown us that we will rarely receive the outpouring of grace I received. So we hold back in abject terror. Hold back because we are terrified to be judged. Condemned. Ridiculed. Outcast. Gossip fodder. Our fragile broken hearts couldn't bear another blow, so we hide. Hide our hearts, our wounds, our scars. We hide behind a smiling face, a breezy answer, a carefree laugh. We hide from the very people who should be our safe places, our confidants, our prayer warriors, our encouragers, our friends.
And why aren't we those things to one another? Why, when we are on the mountain top dancing in the sun, singing lustily, why don't we look back down the mountain, remember from whence we came, and reach out a helping hand to the one who is struggling? Why do we think we can overlook a basic command like, "Bear ye one another's burdens.." and still keep doing our own very selfish victory dance, ignoring the soul that is wavering? Shame on us! There is no excuse.
But there is time to change. For all parties involved--both the encouragers and those who need encouraged. It's time to drop all the pretense and be totally honest. Admit that, even if you are soaring among the spiritual eagles right now, you've travelled through a valley where the shadow of death loomed around every boulder, in every darkened orifice. Admit that, although you have experienced the mountain top, the valley is extremely real to you right now, the path dark, your reserves failing. Admit that it's okay to be in either place--although we certainly prefer one to the other. These admission bring with them the freedom to be our true selves no matter what. They urge us to pray one for another no matter which place we currently stand. They call us to unite in faith, pray for one another, confess our faults to one another, encourage one another, and be healed. They encourage us to band together in Christian love and banish the voice of the Enemy, one strengthening tie at a time.
So I'm hoping you'll join me in trying something new. I'd like to make this an interactive blog post. If you have something encouraging to say that's helped you along the journey, post it in the comments below. If you are struggling with something and need prayer, post that too. You don't have to leave details, you'll be prayed for no matter what. Feel free to share your burdens, your praise, your prayers, your faith. Most of all, know this from someone who understands the feeling that the valleys are more prolific than the mountain tops--I have slogged through countless deep, murky valleys, trudged across some horrifically drab and lonely plains, white knuckled up some astonishingly steep inclines, danced in some glorious meadows, and bellowed from some phenomenal mountaintops, but I have never, ever been in one of those places alone. The Lord has been with me through every one. Wherever you are right now, he is there too. (Psalm 139; Psalm 23; Joshua 1:5,9; Isaiah 43:1-3)
