Choosing My Happiness

“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...For every man shall bear his own burden.”—Galatians 6:2, 5 (KJV)

We have just completed another season of Easter. I pray the high moments of this year’s celebration have lifted you to a higher plane of living in your spiritual journey. One image from this year’s festivities continues to linger in my mind. Each year, I participated in an annual Cross Walk on Good Friday. This year, eight churches joined in carrying a wooden cross from Beulah United Methodist Church in Dale borough up Bedford Street to Mt. Calvary Lutheran on Scalp Avenue making five stops along the way.

At one moment walking just above Oakland UM Church on Bedford Street, I found myself walking completely alone in a crowd of seventy or so pilgrims. I had been chatting with a couple fellow clergy members when they began to engage in a private conversation. I slowed my pace to allow them to walk together, and I walked alone in the crowd. As I reflected momentarily on being alone in the crowd, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus being so alone in the world even as He was often thronged by crowds of followers. On the Cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Holy Spirit almost immediately reminded me of two verses of scripture from Galatians 6. Verse 2 tells us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In life, we are called to alleviate suffering and to minister to our neighbor. Anyone in need around us and around the world is our neighbor. A second verse, Galatians 6:5 teaches us that every person must bear his/her own burden.

As we carried the cross up Bedford Street and Scalp Avenue, I understood clearly that I was not carrying, nor could I carry the cross Jesus was called to carry. In a similar way, although I can help my neighbors in a wide variety of ways, I cannot make them become believers in Jesus Christ. I cannot make them happy people. I cannot carry the burdens they have been called to bear. We so often strive to make the lives of those closest to us perfect. We desire to make them perfectly happy, but we cannot. We all must experience and work out certain things for ourselves.

I am quite sure it is not a quote from scripture, but I believe the title of the book by Frank Minirth and Paul Meier, Happiness is a Choice, is a truth we must learn to accept. I cannot fix another person’s life, but I can do those things God calls me to do to alleviate suffering and show love to those around me. After I have done my duty, given my care, and lifted others before the Lord in prayer, I can do no more. I have borne their burden and fulfilled Christ’s command.

Jesus invites anyone who would be His follower to “deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). We all have our cross, our stuff, to bear. Our unique situation, strengths, and weaknesses become our personal cross we must learn to bear. I believe we can learn to bear it with joy and happiness. Paul said he “learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Phil. 4:12). He gives us his secret in the next verse, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:13). With each cross, God gives grace and strength to bear it with joy and happiness. Let us do all we can for one another, but let each of us choose faith, hope, and happiness.