The Yoke of Light

“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30

Tell me of the one who is not weary and heavy laden and I will tell you of the one who walks with God. There is no doubt that life is filled with burdens of all kinds, hunger, thirst, poverty, poor decisions, straying from the path that follows God and leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Worry about sick friends and family burden me in especially difficult ways for I am often helpless to intervene in a meaningful way. I pray for the best even though my eyes remain blind to what that may realistically look like. Too often, I lean on God and the burden remains heavy.

What of that heaviness? What about the yoke? My temptation is to shed the yoke and be free of it once and for all, to be free as a bird without a care in the world. Without the yoke I will be free to explore new ways, look for a better path, to look for a new light in the darkness. Without the yoke, I may sever the ties that bind me to responsibility, relationships and respectability. Oh, wait a minute, is that what I really desire? Without responsibility, there is nothing to give my life purpose. Without relationships, I will be a very lonely person. Without respectability, I have no standards to maintain. If I stray from the narrow path I may never find my way back and those who love me may give up on searching.   This is not the life I want or desire.

There is a yoke to carry that keeps me following the path that Jesus prepared. The light burden of this yoke keeps me moving in the right direction, one foot in front of the over. When I begin to stray from the narrow path of Jesus guided by the Holy Spirit to the Lord the yoke becomes heavier and heavier.

When life becomes burdensome, when the yoke become heavy, it is time to review my relationship with the Almighty. It is time to call upon the grace of God, examine my conscience, ask for forgiveness, pray for mercy and call upon fellow disciples to help me on the journey. In this way, the yoke becomes light and I carry it with joy.