I’m Not a Stress Ball

I wouldn’t normally squeeze an egg very hard, but a friend gave me this one that’s designed to serve as a stress ball. I can really identify with it. So far it has taken all the abuse I’ve dished out.

But God keeps reminding me that he created me more like a real egg, not a stress ball. I have a tendency to take on the pains and struggles of others, as well as carrying my own, until I feel myself starting to crack. Yet we’re called to share each other’s burdens. What should we do? 

Before the egg starts to crack, I need to transfer the stress I’m carrying to my God’s capable shoulders. The world is not my responsibility—it’s his. I can share in the burdens of others as God calls me to, but I don’t have to have all the answers or carry all their stress. There’s a gracious God who is already carrying those burdens, and I have to let him be the stress ball for the world’s sorrows.

For me, the best way to let him take the burden is to take those stresses to him in prayer and leave them for him to absorb. I’ve found that the only way I can be effective in helping others is by transferring their burdens to the Lord. He’s the only one strong enough to take on the stresses of the world.