The Best Thing To Do When Your Load Feels Heavy

She’d smiled like a love-struck teenager the first time she’d laid eyes on that shimmery pink backpack.

“It’s the one I’ve been wishing for!” she’d exclaimed as she excavated the glitzy tote from the pile of school supplies spilling from my shopping bags. She hugged it to her chest then jumped up and down with a joyous squeal.

When her feet stopped hopping, she dropped to the floor and fastidiously inspected every pocket and zipper, every buckle and strap. Then, when she was satisfied with what she’d seen, she flung her new bag over her slender shoulders and pranced around the room like a princess in a parade.

This was the girl who had watched with envy as her siblings packed their school bags each morning and raced out the door to catch the bright yellow school bus that came to a squeaky stop at the edge of our driveway. 

This was the girl who had “played school” for years with her baby dolls and dreamed of the day she would trade silent students for prattling classmates. And, finally, her wish was coming true! She was headed to kindergarten… with a shiny pink backpack.  

But as the school year progressed, my little girl’s love for her flashy book bag seemed to fade. “I don’t like my backpack anymore…” she complained with a grumpy harrumph one crisp fall morning.

“But it’s just what you were wishing for,” I responded with a playful pat as I planted a kiss on the top of my kindergartener’s head and nudged her out the door.

Finally, the day came when my kindergartener refused to shoulder her beloved bag. “I can’t carry this anymore,” she murmured with a muffled moan. Then, she dropped the precious pack on the ground and plopped down in protest beside it. 

“What’s wrong with your backpack?” I asked as I tried to hide my growing irritation behind an empathetic grin. 

“It’s just too heavy,” my daughter replied. A silent string of tears seeped from the corner of her eyes. “I guess I’m just not strong enough to carry it anymore,” she added. 

Confused, I tugged at the zipper of that bright pink pack and began to empty every pocket.

I pulled out library books and a lunch box, gym shoes and a pencil case. I unpacked a three-ringed binder and a pair of socks, an empty juice box and a wad of crumpled worksheets. 

Then, I lifted up the seemingly empty backpack and exhaled a surprised yelp  of my own. The sequin spangled sack I’d just emptied still felt like it weighed ten pounds. 

“Yikes! What are you carrying in this thing?” I asked.

My daughter laughed at the expression on my face. “I told you it was too heavy for me,” she reiterated with a doleful sigh.

I rummaged through the pockets again, until I finally noticed an obscure zipper tucked beneath a flap on the bottom of the bag. When I opened it, I discovered a plastic-lined pouch intended for keeping wet boots separate from the contents in the rest of the bag.

But that secret pocket wasn’t housing a pair of boots. It was filled to the brim with a stockpile of rocks. Shiny rocks and speckled rocks, big rocks and small rocks. Rough rocks and smooth rocks.

I turned the backpack upside down and the stones spilled onto the floor. My daughter’s eyes grew wide as she stared at that pile of pebbles. “I didn’t know I was carrying all that!” she said with a bewildered gasp.

As we gathered up the rocks and carried them outside, my kindergartner explained how they had landed in her backpack in the first place. She and her friends had been hunting for “treasure” at recess, she said. And, of course, their most treasured finds were the colorful rocks they’d excavated from beneath the slide and around the sandbox.

From that day forward, my kindergartener developed a new routine when she returned home from school each day. When the big yellow bus dropped her at the edge of our driveway, she brought me her sparkling sack. And while my little girl sat by my side and chatted about her day, I didn’t just unpacked the library books and the binders, the lunch box and the crayons. I also unloaded the cache of rocks stashed in the pocket hidden from sight. And in the morning, when my daughter slung her glitzy pink backpack across her shoulders, the load was lighter and her smile was brighter.

My daughter is no longer in kindergarten, but her mommy has never forgotten the lesson I learned from that bangled bag long ago. When the heft of my own life feels cumbersome, I picture those dusty stones tucked in the bottom of that glimmering tote. And I remind myself of this poignant truth—we don’t need to stumble beneath the unseen load that weighs us down. We can bring it to Jesus and ask Him for help.

Jesus knows every ounce of the weight we carry. He sees our shrouded worries and our hidden hurts, our concealed concerns and our veiled fears. And with compelling compassion, He offers to ease our encumbrance as we spend time with Him.

I love the way The Message Bible captures the essence of Christ’s invitation in Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30:

“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.”

Like a child carrying a secret stash of playground rocks at the bottom of her school bag, we, too carry heavy things that nobody sees. Yet the wondrous truth of Matthew 11:28-30 declares that those hidden burdens don’t need to bring us to our knees. They can simply propel us towards the Love who will lighten our load.

Thanks for spending time with us here! We hope you’re encouraged as you linger in this place. If you’d like stay connected, feel free to join our community and receive words of hope in your inbox now and then. When you subscribe, you’ll get a free resource to remind you God is with you.

You can also find more encouragement at Proverbs 31. Today, I’m sharing a devotion about a little boy, a heavy load, and the question that changes everything. And, finally, I’m making plans for 2022, and I’d love to bring a message of encouragement to your next women’s event. Check out my speaking topics here.

Friends, we know life can feel heavy and hard, so we’ve designed a special gift for you. You can download a free printable prayer for the burdened heart, here. And, as always, don’t hesitate to let us know in the comment section how we can pray for you. Let’s keep company with Jesus today!