Words of Assurance

It is the time of the year to fertilize our pecan trees.  And while there is a tractor at work here on the farm, there is no pull behind fertilizer spreader.  What is used is a bucket.  The bucket is filled with fertilizer, cradled under the left arm, and with the right arm it is broadcast around the circular canopy line of the tree.  With a ton of fertilizer to apply, it becomes a rather labor intensive effort.  Some might even say it is monotonous walking around tree after tree after tree throwing fertilizer.  One thing I realized quickly was that as I got closer to my goal (emptying the bucket), the burden I was carrying got lighter. 

 

Since there was not much else to think about on my many circular paths around pecan trees, I found myself wondering about other loads which are carried.  I wondered if it is true that the burdens we carry get lighter the closer we get to our goal?  Do our burdens get lighter the closer we get to home?  It seems we all carry our own peculiar burdens.  I have often read that toward the end of life we start throwing off the things to which we have hung tenaciously in our life until there is nothing left at the end but our life.  Maybe this end of life stuff is not really like burden shedding, but I wonder if there is not some parallel to consider. 

 

Could it be true that the closer we come to the end, the less we  become pre-occupied with the things we have called the burdens of our life?  Could it be that looking at life through an end of life lens causes us to see things in a different perspective?  Not having been there, I cannot say for sure.  I can only wonder.  In the meantime I do remember that Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest."  (Matthew 11:28)  And, I also remember a verse from the 55th Psalm which says, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you."  (vs. 22)  And for now, those words of assurance are enough.