Hello friends.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome back to our series of shorter reflections.
Stay here.
I think sometimes.
.
.
We carry things for much longer than we need to.
Things like worry.
And disappointment.
Things that people once said to us.
Things that we wished we'd done differently.
Situations.
That we can't control.
Even when nothing is physically weighing us down,
We can feel the weight of it.
But there's this beautiful line near the end of the first letter of Peter.
It's in chapter 5,
Around verse 7.
It says cast all your anxiety or cares on Him.
Because He cares for you.
And that word cast is really worth sitting with.
Cast all your cares on him.
Speaking of God,
Of course,
Because he cares for you.
Caste isn't.
A particularly gentle word,
It suggests throwing something.
Tyking.
What you've been holding and throwing it away,
Throwing it down.
I think sometimes we don't realise how tightly we're holding something until we let it go,
Until we release it.
We tell ourselves.
We're thinking about it because we need to and sometimes.
.
.
We're just carrying it,
Going over the same conversation,
Rehearsing the same possibilities,
Trying to solve something that is not ours to solve.
Trying to control something that can't be controlled.
It here.
.
.
PETA offers us a different possibility.
Cast it.
Let it go.
Because you don't have to carry everything by yourself.
Take a moment now just to think of one thing you've been carrying.
What weight or burden.
Have you been wearing over your shoulders for some time?
Just notice where you feel that.
In your body.
Maybe you do in fact feel a tightness in your shoulders or maybe there's a weight in your chest.
Maybe there's tension in your jaw.
A restless feeling in your stomach.
And as you notice that,
Very gently.
Just imagine placing that thing down.
You don't have to throw it away and you don't have to pretend that it doesn't exist.
It's there.
It's real.
But just for the moment.
Can you put it down just long enough to stop carrying it?
Even if for a short time.
Cast all your anxiety,
All your cares on Him.
Because he cares for you.
And that might be the most important part.
Now be careful.
God isn't a place to deposit all of our problems.
God is the one who cares for us,
The one to whom we can bring what's too heavy.
The One.
Who doesn't require us to have everything sorted out before we come.
We can come as we are,
Messy,
Burdened,
Weighed down,
Tired.
And remember,
Letting go.
Isn't giving up.
Letting go is an act of trust.
It's recognizing.
That there's things.
.
.
That we can attend to,
And there's also things we can't control.
There are things that are ours to carry,
Yes,
But there are things that we can place into the hands of God.
So take a nice deep breath in.
And out.
And for the next few moments,
With each breath,
Just allow yourself to loosen your grip.
Your prayer might be,
I don't have to carry this right now.
God,
I place this in your hands.
Let's just take some space to sit with that for the moment.
You Now you can pick it up again later if you need to.
But know what it feels like to have put it down.
And remember,
You're not alone,
Friend.
You are cared for,
And you don't have to carry everything.
And know that grace,
Peace and love hold you and all the weight that you carry today and always.
Friend,
Whenever you're feeling a burden,
Know that the invitation is to stay here.
Until tomorrow.
Bye for now.
