Lighten your load to make yourself more nimble in life.

Lighten your load and find freedom

If you lighten your load, you'll find life much more enjoyable.

We all carry things we should have dropped by the wayside years ago, but singles are more vulnerable to this trait than married people, simply because we have more time to think about the past.

When we see someone hiking along with a huge pack and all kinds of gear hanging on them, we find it sort of funny. Yet that's exactly what we do with cares that are weighing us down.

Grudges are the heaviest burdens to bear

The most dangerous burden to carry is grudges. They're the only thing in our pack that actually gets heavier as we go along.

Grudges have a way of growing, fed by our hate, anger, and bitterness. Every time we pull out a grudge and re-examine it, it gets stronger instead of weaker.

The bizarre aspect of grudges is that they hurt us more than the person or organization we have them against. They drain a lot of energy we could use to make our life better.

If you want to be more nimble in life, you've got to lighten your load by letting grudges go. It's hard to do, I know--much easier said than done, but the Holy Spirit is always eager to step in and heal your heart, if you'll ask him.

When you give your grudges to him, trusting him for justice, you transfer a responsibility that was never yours in the first place. You'll feel a great sense of relief.

Fear keeps you from climbing higher

Fear keeps you wandering around the bottom of your mountain. Lighten your load and trust God more.

This would be impossible, except that Jesus commanded it all throughout the gospels. Time after time he told the disciples "Fear not" or "Don't be afraid." Christ doesn't order us to do things we're not capable of, and the tougher they appear, like letting go of our grudges, the more willing his Holy Spirit is to help us.

I don't give this advice lightly, because I was afraid for much of my life: afraid of failure, afraid of what others think, afraid of rejection, and a half dozen other fears I can't even remember now.

Gradually, in very tiny steps, I tried stepping out in faith, as some denominations call it. I trusted God in small things, then in larger and larger. He was trustworthy. Oh, I still failed sometimes, but he helped me get up again. Surprise! I didn't die, like I thought I would.

I'm not so tough, but I've got someone invincible standing with me every step of the way. You can lighten your load too. Let God show you how your fears are holding you back. Then, with his grace, try a little bit every day. Don't scold yourself when you stumble, but do congratulate yourself when you make progress. If I can do it, you can too.

Envy keeps you looking in the wrong place

Envy is another encumbrance you can do without. For much of my life, I envied more successful writers, authors who were constantly on the bestseller list because they had name recognition. All the while I was stewing about their success, I was taking my concentration away from my own work.

Envy is heavy because it distracts you from enjoying the journey. You can't go as fast or as far as you should because you're watching somebody ahead. Take your eye off the path for too long, and you may walk off a cliff!

The antidote for envy is gratitude. When you're thankful to God for all you have, right where you are, you stop fretting over others. We all have a tendency to take the good things in our life for granted. Appreciating what you have instead of wanting what someone else has is so much healthier.

You can lighten your load by thanking God for the talents and skills he has given you, even if they're undeveloped right now. Envy costs too much. Let it go.

Worry is a problem
for every person

When Dale Carnegie published his book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living in 1948, it became a bestseller and has sold more than 6 million copies since. Why? Because everyone worries, singles and married folks alike.

Carnegie's book will show you how to break this nasty habit--I highly recommend you check it out from your local library.

If you're a Christian, you know that despite your faith in God, you still worry sometimes. When things are going bad, it's hard not to.

But if you look back over your life, you'll see that most of the things you worried about never happened, and even if they did, they weren't as bad as you expected, or you eventually recovered from them.

You may never be able to eliminate worry from your life altogether, but you can lighten your load by refusing to let it put you in a state of helpless agitation.

Willpower won't do it. This is the area where you'll need God's help the most.

Overcoming these habits won't happen overnight, but the benefits are indescribable. You don't have to go through life feeling out of control. You can know peace and security.

Trust God to do the heavy lifting. Let him lighten your load.


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