campies!

14 april 2010

inspiration: matthew 11.28-30
location: lauren's house
what i love: comfort.

so tonight at young life, we had campies. for those that aren't memorial juniors, that's campaigners. we talked about resting. gene and i showed up in jammies and talked to the girls/boys about resting, too much rest, and resting in the Lord.

we asked them questions about rest, what it means to rest, why we should rest, what happens when we rest too much, what happens when laziness takes over, etc. we read a lot of verses about rest, when God gives us rest, and when He encourages us to rest.

one of the verses that i had them read was matthew 11.28-30.

"come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

those verses have a special place in my heart, as they have gotten me through some tough times. since i got so pumped about sharing them with the kids, i'm going to tell you about what i told them.

when i was little, i spent a lot of time with my grandpa...papaw is what i called him. he was my favorite thing in the world. i loved spending time with him and sharing interests...we had a big one in common--horses. he took up horses and trail riding when he retired from welding, and i always had such a soft spot for them. i thought they were so beautiful. when i was extremely young, i started my journey into riding horses, which took me into barrel racing (for a little while), and into teaching horseback riding to little kids.



when i got a little older, my grandpa started with mules and pulling things...he had a sled, a covered wagon, and all sorts of stuff for the mules to pull. it was awesome! (i even got to ride in the rodeo parade for a couple of years in his wagon! so cool!!!) but when you pull mules or oxen or whatever, you need to use a yoke, because the animals need to be pushed in order to be directed. the yoke helps to share the load of weight and pressure between the animals, and help direct them in order to work together. so the yoke that Jesus talks about in those verses, he talks about the shared weight and about showing us how to take on those burdens and work through them. he will take on that load and shoulder the work in order to help ease our burdens and lighten our burdens.

i think the most important part of those verses is "take my yoke upon you and learn from me..." i think it's so important because not only are we to share the burden with Jesus and give him our problems, sure, but we are also to learn from him. we are to learn how to be more humble and gentle from him, as well as to learn how to deal with those burdens, and with his help, maybe we can learn to deal for the future.

and i think that's a beautiful thing.