The Unburdening: The Call to A Light Burden and Easy Yoke
Jesus says “my burden is light and my yoke is easy”…
But often I’ve wondered where this light burden and easy yoke are, because crap can feel heavvvy. My kids depend on me, now and I guess from what I’ve heard…forever??!! And I’ve definitely already done things that I’m sure will land them in therapy. Groceries are a million dollars. No sorry, gas is a million dollars. Wait, they’re both a million dollars. How are we going to make it all work? Health and wellness seems impossible…in this year of our lord 2026, what’s even right anymore? Marriage is the Wild West out here with three toddlers and a 32 week pregnant wife (this one feels oddly specific and personal and I won’t forget it). Do you even know what’s for dinner tonight?
This is really just skimming the surface. These are the easy ones. I haven’t even touched the government or tick-borne diseases. I haven’t even mentioned the cleanliness of your house or how much water you’re drinking (it’s probably not enough), or what’s IN your water, or your circadian rhythm, or the skincare you’re not doing, or the toxic chemicals in like every product in your home (including in and on all of your food), OR MICRO-PLASTICS (this one specifically…are we even kidding), or mold, or your phone use, or the shows you’re watching (or not watching), or the books you’re reading (or not reading), or mowing the lawn, or replacing the tires on your car (the most infuriating way to spend money), or oil changes (done one recently? Probably not), or literally…termites???
Having and making friends, being in community…sometimes as elusive as microplastics if we’re being honest. We haven’t talked about your heart’s desires and dreams you have or building a life that’s meaningful and enjoyable. How about literally just feeling joy? Or taking a vacation (you really need one but can’t afford it). And really, I haven’t even said anything about the state of your spirit or soul, bet you haven’t even thought of those ones in a while. Well, you’re welcome, add it to the burden pile since we’re at it.
Tell me that the weight of all of this isn’t crushing and you can stop reading. As for me, I’ll keep writing because I’m still in search for this light burden and easy yoke.
When we get down to it, The burden looks like control, performance and perfection…(but really mainly control), and feels like anxiety and overwhelm. And it’s no wonder we find ourselves in the middle of a mental health crisis, inside and outside the church. This is not a strictly Christian/non-Christian burden. This is a crushing burden anyone can find themselves under, and the reason so many Christians definitely don’t seem lightly burdened or easily yoked. In fact I see many Christian’s simply pick up additional burdens when they step into Christianity for religion’s sake (but more on this later). They’re like “ahh Jesus, yes, prince of peace and all things shalom, I will now take on the most crushing burdens of them all, thank you.”
This is the burden we bear when we place ourselves in the seat of God. This seems like a big statement, and maybe you just counted yourself out because clearly that’s not what your problem is, but whether you know it or not, this is where many people unknowingly find themselves (hence the heaviness). When our feelings, thoughts, ideas, plans, desires, decisions, traumas, delusions, successes and accolades—when these are lords of our life, when these call the shots…it’s an immense burden, because it’s all on us.
It’s on me to parent perfectly or in such a way that my kids end up like (fill in the blank). It’s on me to make the right and perfect choices when it comes to my career. It’s on me to pick the perfect partner and sustain a marriage. It’s on me to provide. It’s on me to protect. It’s on me to grow and change in such a way that I become this or that kind of person. It’s on me to make the right and perfect decisions about my health. The government is actually on my shoulders (most people would never say this, but sure live, talk, and post like it), and it’s on me to change people’s hearts and minds. It’s on me to keep the peace. It’s on me to make sure the people around me are feeling (whatever which way) or acting (whatever which way). Whatever IT is—the burden is that however IT turns out—IT is all on you.
The unburdening—the light burden and easy yoke—looks like surrender and feels like peace. True shalom—a wholeness to all that is around and within you. This is not a relinquishing of responsibility, ownership, accountability, or authority, but a life laid down. Things in right order, responsibility for the right things, accountability for what is actually yours. A humbling recognition that it’s not all on me. What won’t be calling the shots or directing my life are my whims or the whims of culture. What won’t be steering the boat are the good things I think up, or feelings I think I’m entitled to based on my mere 36 years of life. Like what even is 36 years in the grand scheme of things? I’m literally an infant.
Jesus said “my burden is light and yoke is easy”—not that it was non existent. But a light burden and easy yoke can be carried without crushing me when the only responsibility I have is to follow Jesus and then follow through on following Jesus. The unburdening is obedience. My only job is obedience to Jesus. That’s it. Because when God asks me to quit my job to stay home with my kids, my job is to do it. The unburdening means that if He’s asked me to do it, then He has a plan to see me through it. He has the full picture. He has the best for me and my entire family in mind. He has the patience I need. He has the bills paid. Remember, the following and obedience doesn’t stop with one act of surrender, so maybe he has the bills paid by another thing He asks of me as we continue down this path. But ultimately, it’s not on me, and really, knowing the path or what’s to come—also not on me. Knowing how it’s all going to work out? None of my business honestly. This just set some of you free and sent some of you into a panic. I know, because I’ve been both.
When I see the gap between me and holiness, my only job is to ask God what’s next, and then do that. My job is not the outcome, my job is NOT my sanctification. My job is my partnership to God in my sanctification. This is a burden I see many Christians pick up when they start to follow God (myself included). They pick up the burden of being responsible for the outcome of their soul and the production of fruit in their life. Which holllllyyyy…that is crushing. That’s a heavy burden. The unburdening is that all I have to do is obey God and surrender to Him. He is responsible for the shaping, molding, heart and soul change. He is responsible for my healing and wholeness. He is responsible for the fruit in my life. I am responsible for being a branch. Branches simply adhere to the vine. But for a branch unattached to the vine to pick up the responsibility of making and producing grapes? It’s an impossibility. Yet, many of us live our lives this way. I imagine little branches just hopping around on the ground complaining about how hard and heavy it all is, how they can’t do it. The vine is like…yeah…you’re literally just a branch. Or as I like to say—I’m literally just a girl.
I sense some of you spiraling right now. Already making checklists in your head or feeling the mounting pressure of obedience. Already thinking about how to obey perfectly or overwhelmed by the thought of getting something wrong along the way. Or recognizing how much you’ve already gotten wrong. Perhaps you’ve never even considered letting God shape your life and you’ve already come so far. Can he unravel what you’ve done? The truth is, there is a burden there for us to obey God, but He has also fool proofed even this burden for us. When we mess up, He’s already covered us with His grace. When we get it wrong, He already has a plan for another chance. When we don’t obey and go our own way, He already knows how He’s going to make up for lost time. And in it all, He’s sent us a helper—the Holy Spirit, to help us, guide us, change us—along the way.
So I won’t lie. There is a burden to obedience. You should be accountable and will be held responsible for what God asks of you. You are not a victim to this life and the circumstances you face. You are not simply replacing the whims of culture and society with the whims of a man in the sky. You are not a helpless little minion lowly and small. There is a heavenly authority required of you, that you absolutely should step into, in fact obedience will be pretty hard if you don’t. There is an ownership to this walk and this way. You aren’t off the hook, but this burden? It is light if you can relinquish control and lordship over your life. This yoke? It is easy if you’ll only follow through.
Because if we can do that, if we can pick up the light burden of obedience and the easy yoke of surrender, we unburden ourselves from checklists or how things should be or look. We unburden ourselves from the pressure to keep up or move up. We unburden ourselves from religion. We unburden ourselves from what others around us seem to be doing or from even societal norms. We unburden ourselves from what “a good Christian” would do or say or be. We unburden ourselves from having to have it all together and get it all right. We unburden ourselves from the pressure of the outcome. We unburden ourselves from what other people feel or think of us and our decisions. We relinquish the burden of other people’s responses, feelings, and actions…even our own children. We get to put on a truly light burden and easy yoke.
And after all that we’ve been carrying, there’s no way this doesn’t feel good. We get to look the prince of peace in the face and step into the wholeness he has for us and our lives, we get to live into true shalom (comprehensive completeness, wholeness, soundness, welfare, and safety). We get to gaze upon him with delight and not a furrowed, frustrated brow. And his command to come to him, all who are weary and burdened…becomes a gentle call for simply every moment of every day. We’re not scared or unsure of what’s to come, because whatever it is—it is good.
“Heavenly Dwelling”—I consider this piece a portal—to the light yoke and easy burden. A reminder of light in the midst of heaviness. A surrender to the pause.
