Carrying Love // Galatians 6:2

Today’s verse means a lot to me when I think about how we can fulfill the law of Christ. First, let’s remember what that law is as Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). This means we fulfill Jesus’ commandment to love others by helping them carry their burdens. This brings us to something we must come to grips with, which is we tend to shy away from people when they’re suffering. Maybe it’s out of fear of offending that person or our own fear of things that makes us uncomfortable. Case in point, some people worry about bringing up Mia around me for fear of making me sad. The truth is, I love it when people ask about her and want to hear stories. I try to make it a practice to say that reliving those days — even that bad ones — keeps her memory alive. Know that getting into some of the difficult and uncomfortable things we all face isn’t usually harming that person, but helping him or her process the love, the grief, and the love that became grief. So, don’t worry so much about bringing up someone’s burden, because I guarantee you they know they’re carrying it. Loving them is offering to help bear it for a little while and living into the old proverb that grief shared is halved while joy shared is doubled!