Can a Burden Be a Stream in the Desert

Being burdened is being in a desert.  Or so I thought.  A burden can actually be the stream.  We just need to grow up first to realize that.

Being in a Desert.

I haven't been in a real desert.  But I've seen enough movies to know that it is dry and barren and dusty and lonely.  I've read enough about deserts to know that to be stranded in a desert is like having cancer when the only thing you have going for you is hope. 

Being burdened can leave us dry and lonely.  When things get too rough and too tough, we feel like we are stranded in some abyss and only a miracle can save us. 

I was never really one to believe so much in miracles.  Being burdened changed that. 

The Burden of Burdens.

It's stupid to think that some people are free of burdens.  Everybody has some burden to bear - at different degrees at different times. It's up to us to see it as a desert or a stream.

Funny that when I have insignificant burdens, I never really saw it as a stream.  We burden ourselves with traffic, with an insufferable boss, with the black sheep in the family.  We even burden ourselves with the noise the neighbor makes or how they put their garbage at your end of the fence.  We make our lives miserable in the process, living in a desert of dissatisfaction, burdening ourselves with the insignificant burdens.

Multiplying the Burdens

The insignificant burdens never really made us grow up.  We learn to manage the traffic, leave the insufferable boss and avoid the black sheep.  We make as much noise as the neighbor and put our garbage on his side of the fence.  We think we've won this way.  Only, we didn't.  We just multiplied the misery.

The Burden is Not Ours.

I had to go through the most harrowing burdens to realize that I can only do so much.  I can't do it.  I am powerless.  I had to give it all up to a Higher Being whose power is big enough.  He had turned my burdens into learning experiences, a flowing stream in what used to be a depressing desert. 

I am experiencing miracles.  Everyday.  Because the burdens are not mine to bear.  Not anymore.

God told me "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden". (Matthew 11:28).  I did.  And he gave me rest.

finding a gift in a second hand gift

As I said, "Streams in the Desert" is a daily devotional by L.B. Cowman. It was first printed in 1998. I have the 2007 copy. This was given to me by a dear dear friend when I celebrated my nth bday! (Go ahead, waste your time doing your math!!!). It was a second hand gift. I know because my friend's dedication reads "a gift I must share with you - one of the very best devotional guide that really touched my life". And my friend was right. "Streams in the Desert" has touched my life - from Day 1 of the 366 devotionals. I don't even know how to begin sharing how I found countless of "streams", overflowing hope in the sometimes barren "desert" of our lives. I didn't find a single gift from this second hand gift. I found numerous, valuable, priceless gifts. And these gifts I want to share with you. I hope and pray you will find your own "streams", too.