How often do you feel like you are a burden to others? That to ask for help would be to burden them. Recently, someone told me that they didn’t want to be a burden to me. My son overheard and responded, “You aren’t a burden! If you were any kind of burden, it would be a burden of love!” He has such an amazing capacity to love.

You know who else has an amazing capacity to love? Jesus Christ. Yesterday, my post was titled In the Garden. Today thoughts of a different Garden are on my mind. The Garden of Gethsemane. I often think of what it must have felt like for Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. I can’t even comprehend it. I can’t imagine the burden he bore throughout that night. Only He could bear it. Even He felt as if it were too heavy to bear asking, “Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:39

He came to the disciples and found them asleep. He gently rebuked them to stay awake and to watch and pray. Then He went away again saying, “Oh my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” Matthew 26: 42

Jesus asked for this burden to pass from Him so that he didn’t have to go through it. It was heavy to bear. But then he came back and said, ok, I will do thy will. He carried that burden until it was finished. I’m so grateful to Him that he bore that heavy burden for us all. The Atonement of Christ is powerful.

How much love He has for you. For me. He endured it all. I hope to emulate that love for others. I have mentioned the “big” needs of my children. They know of this blog and have given me permission to respectfully share that. I won’t share much more for their privacy.

Being a caregiver in such a capacity can feel amazing. To see the growth and determination of a physically limited child is magical. This child is my superhero. This child has the Light of Christ in her. We all seek out her love and hugs when we feel heavy burdens. She is not a burden.

I know that this is also not how I always feel. Being a caregiver can feel isolating. Lonely. Stressful. Heavy. Sometimes, Satan tells me that we cannot just go and do like other families, because of disabilities and social interactions that would prevent us from doing so.

Thoughts like that feel heavy. Thoughts like that limit our family from growth. Thoughts like that make the word burden seem negative.

God tells me to go ahead and do the outings. The kids will learn to adjust, and they will be able to thrive in their own time. We do hard things. We go do the outings anyways.

We have a lot of kiddos in therapy for speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy. We go to a therapy center for this. There in the waiting room, are families with kids that have big needs. The need of constant caregiving from adults. Some parents come and go without notice. Some parents you notice. They are the ones that lovingly serve their “big need” child in such a way that to me shows a burden a love. A burden happily and lovingly borne. You see the exhaustion on their face and on the way they hold their body. But you also see the love they have for that child.

Sometimes when I feel frustrated with a child because they are not able to do a task well beyond their capabilities, I have the thought come to me of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. It is the spirit gently rebuking me. Reminding me to do all things in love for this special child of God. I am so thankful for those gentle reminders. I am so thankful for repentance. I am so thankful for the ability to try again.

All because of Him. Of His great effort to carry out His burden of love for us in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Don’t let the word burden become a negative word to you. We all have burdens. I think it is how we decide to carry them in our minds and in our hearts that will help us decide if that is a negative thing, or a thing of love. An opportunity to grow.