“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).
We had a lesson on a Talk By Elder Bednar today about bearing burdens. It was about lessening burdens but not doing away with them. Because often there is a lesson to be learned from having the burdens and obstacles in our lives.
My first thought, which I was afraid to share, was about Buddha. Buddha was a prince who was sheltered from the outside world until later in life when he decided to leave the palace walls and see the outside world.
When he did he was shocked and saddened to see so much suffering, so much hunger and pain. He saw the sick and afflicted, the handicapped, the starving and the blind.
And he even witnessed someone die. It was through these experience that he began to ponder the nature of suffering and the best path to understanding and ultimately enlightenment.
Seeing the burdens others dealt with caused him to mature and to become wise. The pain he saw affected him deeply and the burden of it all improved his life and his understanding.
So having burdens can actually spark a complete transformation of body, mind and soul.
It makes me wonder about the little moments and the crucial ones Jesus came to in His life that lead to His remarkable understanding.
I wonder about how Jesus processed the pain of others from His family to the others in His village. And I wonder how He realized that He could help and in ways no one else could.
These are moments not recorded in scripture but these moments happened even if they were not recorded.
Jesus did not turn anyone away it seems but instead was overjoyed when a crowd broke a roof to get a ill man to Jesus for healing. He praised them for their faith.
And Jesus at one point during the Atonement bore all our sins and maybe our burdens and our pain. And some would say that resulted in His exaltation. But I wonder if maybe Jesus bearing our burdens is what allowed Him to grow into exaltation. Maybe it was what enriched His soul making exaltation possible.
In the moment of the Atonement Jesus bearing our burdens, our pain and our sin maybe He had a window into each of our lives, our souls and the contents of our hearts.
So maybe bearing one another's burdens can allow us insights into the lives and struggles of others. Maybe we will be all the better for it.