Wagons are for carrying children not burdens!

I'm working on a sketch--really. I mean a drawing, not a short play or skit! LOL My immediate family knows that I can't don't draw! That might be a surprise to some people since the rest of my immediate family seem to be quite talented at it.  I don't paint, I don't sketch, it's torture. Or so I have come to believe....because I used to and have, on occasion....all of that is beside the point. I want to sketch something that I saw the other day.

There is a homeless man (of many) who I've seen a few times.  He lingers farther up the street.  He appears clean and looks different from the others.  He wears a hat, a straw one, not a Huck Finn type of straw hat, just an average, shield your face from the sun, decent looking, made of straw, hat.  The thing that really makes him stand out is his baggage.

Many homeless people have shopping carts that accompany them everywhere.  Mr Jones's cart is full of mops and brooms and he always seems to respectfully avoid or get out of your way if he sees you coming in his direction.  I think Mr. Jones wants to be invisible too because he wears very thick clothing, even in extremely hot weather, but more than that, he covers his face, almost fully.

Then there is park lady.  She has a stroller that she carries her few belongings in.  She has a collapsible chair and she takes her stroller to various parks and just sits and relaxes during the day.

Well this particular gentleman does not have the stereotypical cart.  He has a wagon.  I have not paid much attention to the details of the wagon because I've always been distracted by the baggage.  He pulls the wagon behind him.  It is neatly stacked, at least 6 ft high with bins....I think they are actual plastic bins, with lids even.  Everything is stacked about 3 bins long and maybe 4 or so high. It doesn't teeter or tilt.  It is all tied or bungeed together and looks very secure.

I saw him last week and suddenly felt this overwhelming sense of sadness? I am not sure exactly what it was I was feeling but I wanted to cry.  I saw him and he was the whole world! Carrying around his baggage with no place to put it. What is in those bins? Old photos? A life he no longer has? Memories? Hurts? Disappointments? Hopes? I did not think it was anything he could immediately benefit from, like food, because it did not seem to be easily accessible, with the ropes and all.

I saw in him, a representation of all of us.  Pulling around this ridiculous baggage and no place to put it. Why? Why would someone with no home, carry around all that stuff? How many of us are carrying around, needlessly, our own baggage?

Let it go. Untie it. Open the bins. We can ALL see you have your stuff, even if we don't know exactly what it is.  He looks so neat and clean and then you see the wagon! God has not given us a life of *burden*.  He has called us to freedom. To take on His burden and yoke, which is easy and light.  

Perhaps because His burden, which is all our 'stuff', has been washed away.  We cast all our cares upon Him.  It's a trade.  An unfair one, true.  Grace is unfair. Give our  burdens, our bins, our junk, our disappointments hurts, and yes, even our hopes--to Him.  And what does He want in return? To take on His burden.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  HE will carry our burdens as we take on His. What is God's burden? A burden of Love? A burden of truth? A burden for the souls of the earth to know and love HIM?  If God is for you, who can be against you?

Accept it.  Accept Him.  Receive His truth for your life. Let go of FEAR.  Get rid of the boxes today! Empty your wagon!!!