'Love makes all burdens light'
There is a cute anecdote about a little boy who was carrying his older sister piggyback style. He was asked, “Isn’t she heavy?” His answer was “No, she’s my sister.” How well this indicates the power of love to lighten our burdens.
There appear to be all kinds of burdens we have to cope with. The burden might be financial—a house value that has been turned upside down in the real estate crisis of the past several years. It might be caring for elderly parents while being responsible for one’s own children at the same time. Perhaps it’s an unyielding physical condition, or political unrest might be threatening an individual’s home and family. Whatever the burden, leaning on divine Love, God, offers not only relief, but freedom. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in one of her letters, “In the midst of depressing care and labor I turn constantly to divine Love for guidance, and find rest. It affords me great joy to be able to attest to the truth of Jesus’ words. Love makes all burdens light, it giveth a peace that passeth understanding, and with ‘signs following’ ” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 133 ).
This passage offers comfort and at the same time raises a question. There is the promise of respite from our cares. The nature of God as Love acts as love manifested in our lives. Love supports, it soothes, it uplifts. But, how do we connect with that divine Love in a meaningful and effective way so as to have that promise fulfilled?
I’ve found that Love, perhaps more than all the other synonyms of God offered in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, is a “feel” rather than a “think.” Love is more of a “heart” thing, maybe less of a “head” thing. And prayer, of course, is a key way to connect with the Divine. There are many ways of praying. Any prayer is helpful if it turns thought toward God. For me, an effective help in feeling divine Love rather than thinking about Love, is to ask Love, which is also divine Mind, for what I need. My prayer might go something like this: “Dear Father-Mother God, help me to feel Your love for Your creation. Help me recognize that Your love fills all space, that Your love reveals the most amazing things. Open my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to feel more of Your dear and constant love.”
The nature of God as Love acts as love manifested in our lives.
There are many examples of prayers that indicate an earnest heart-yearning for a greater awareness of the divine presence. The “Daily Prayer” found in the Manual of The Mother Church states, “… let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me …” (p. 41 ). Then there’s the Lord’s Prayer and its spiritual interpretation found in Science and Health, which says, “Give us this day our daily bread; / Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 17 ). An explanation of how this kind of prayer works is described by Mrs. Eddy: “When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone,—but more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it the ‘river of His pleasure,’ the tributary of divine Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow,—even that joy which finds one’s own in another’s good” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 127 ).
It’s clear that our prayers must be sincere. Words alone won’t do the job. We must have a yearning, a heart’s desire for more of the “feel” of God in our lives, for not just the letter, but also the spirit. When we sincerely and honestly invite the Divine to enter our hearts, then all heaven breaks loose. We find ourselves “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9 ). We are lifted out of limited, mortal, dark, hopeless, yes, even burdened places. We are catapulted into light, where there is only unspeakable joy, wonder, and healing.
When this occurs, a finite sense of mortal selfhood morphs into a compelling feeling of an all-encompassing love that reaches deep. A love that yearns to bless others. A love that heals. When this happens, we are aligned with divine Love itself. This is “the secret place of the most High” that is described in the Bible (Psalm 91:1 ). This is dwelling in the consciousness of Love as Mrs. Eddy explains in the spiritual sense of Psalm 23 (see Science and Health, p. 578 ). This exalted sense of the presence of Love is like light. Darkness is effortlessly dispelled. This state of consciousness is where healing, transformation, and redemption happens.
Words alone won’t do the job. We must have a yearning, a heart’s desire for more of the “feel” of God in our lives.
An important ingredient in healing is unselfed love. In fact the first sentence in Science and Health reads, “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love” (p. 1 ). And, further in the book, she writes, “Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power” (p. 192 ). When we lift our thoughts away from self, we are empowered by God through our unselfed approach. This is truly love in action. We are blessed and experience healing ourselves by expressing love in an outward manner. Interestingly, burdens fall away as we endeavor to help others.
Over the years, in the practice of Christian Science healing, I’ve often had to prayerfully address a feeling of being overwhelmed and burdened. It’s sometimes difficult not to feel responsible for the health and well-being of others. During these times, I’ve found wordy prayers filled with wonderful statements of truth to be not enough to bring about a feeling of freedom and a sure sense that God is in control. Sometimes I’ve literally walked the floor, praying for peace about a situation. What does bring release is when I can actually feel Father-Mother God’s dear love for Her creation. I lose any sense of self in the glorious realization of God’s omnipotent and omnipresent love. This is bearing witness to what wonderful things God is doing, rather than trying to change a situation myself.
In this spiritual place of divine Love, what seems burdensome, heavy, threatening, fades. It’s a little like going up in an airplane. When on the ground, cars, buses, houses, etc., seem large. When a plane ascends, the higher it goes, the smaller the things on the ground appear until the altitude is so high, even skyscrapers and freeways shrink in appearance until they disappear. So as we rise, as we feel and express more of God’s love, we actually feel lighter, freer. We are released from anxieties and burdens. A sweet, gentle peace permeates our hearts and our lives. We are proving that Love truly makes all burdens light.
