What To Do With Our Baggage

Galatians 6:2
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ ...
Galatians 6:5
For every man shall bear his own burden."

In my quest to let go of my burdened heart and troubled thinking, today I decided to look up all the verses I could find about burdens.  I found an interesting note in my Bible about the above two verses, which I am trying to make sense of.  The first one verse says we need to bear each other's burdens - but the second one says to carry your own burden.  So which is it?  Or is it both!

I have notes written beside the verses - not sure who they are from, but I'm guessing they are from my pastor.  Beside verse 2, I wrote:  "Help carry the foot locker."  I guess the original word here meant a piece of luggage a soldier might carry.  My husband has an Army footlocker.  I'm not really sure how he got it as it is something like they use in Basic Training ... but anyway, it's a big wooden box that is heavy in and of itself - but when it has "stuff" in it, it is even heavier.  I can't carry it alone. 

If we consider the church is the footlocker, then each member should be lending a hand to help carry it along.  I realize at church, like in life, some are stronger and able to do more - some are weaker or in a different season of life and carry less of the burden - and some seem to need to sit in the footlocker and be carried too. 

We mortals aren't able to carry the big burdens of life alone ... I remember once sitting in my pastor's office telling him what a hard time I was having being the full-time church secretary because I just felt the weight of the work, the people, the staff, the problems, the ministry ... and he said something like, "No one person - not even me - can or should carry this church."   My husband will often say - about our Christian school - "it's not 'my' school, it is God's."  That makes the problems of the church and the school God's too.   We're all carrying that footlocker together IN HIS STRENGTH!

By verse 5, I have written, "carry your own suitcase."  Unless you overpack like I sometimes tend to do - everything but the kitchen sink - a suitcase is definitely something one person can carry.  I interpret it as doing your part, carrying your own weight, chipping in!  If everyone would do that responsibly - in a church or in a home - wouldn't life run a whole lot smoother. 

One of my biggest frustrations is when someone not only skates out of their responsibilities but also dumps them on someone else without warning!  I don't just mean asking for a helping hand, but literally dropping something in someone's lap with no qualms.  I'm all for helping someone, but I would prefer to be asked to do so nicely without a demanding attitude - and then not feel like I'm wasting my time.  While those are my personal issues, I guess I need to quit focusing so much on the person who is NOT doing what is right - but to make sure I continue to just steadily carry my own suitcase because it is right. 

If I overfill my "suitcase" with burdens I really don't need, then I'm not going to be able to handle it.  Which also means I have to use discretion in what I pack ... I can't take everyone else's burdens - there's only room for so much.  The other burdens, well, I can give those to God; He is omni-potent (all powerful), and thankfully, He can handle all of our "baggage".