Peace sometimes creeps away when we're carrying too many things that we didn't realize we were putting in our personal baggage, weighing us down. Those of us who were raised to be responsible and pleasers have a special talent for owning guilt that isn't ours. We often continue to bear the burden of choices other people made that somehow we feel responsible for that truly aren't ours. I personally call this letting go of that kind of pain, shame, and guilt owning your own. An elder friend shared with me that one day she looked at what she was carrying in her heart as a burden and realized that about 3/4 of what was there was not hers to own, that her actions could not, would not, and wouldn't in the future fix the situation because they involved grown folks' choices she had no control over. She said she stopped the "what if's" the "I shoulda, coulda, woulda" jamboree and the "I was such a dog when" choruses that taunted her when she tried to sleep and realized that she could only orchestrate her own life, not her four childrens. AMEN. Peace comes from knowing your own boundaries, what you are and are not responsible for, and living between those lines with thanksgiving and praise for all that we are provided. One of the best parts of my personal belief in God is that I know each day I can bring to Him that which I cannot handle. I can take my concerns, fears, guilt to His court and lay them down. The issue for me is too often I don't want to burden Him with my concerns....and that is a boundary I am choosing to get over....God is God and I am not. He has time for me!
Matthew 28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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