For years my go to encompassing word for describing life when it became difficult was…Heavy. One of the heaviest things I ever put down and walked away from was my professional baseball career that lasted for seven mostly injury-plagued seasons.

It’s hard enough to pursue a big-league jersey when you are healthy. Adding the weight of constantly having to train through, heal up from, or play through physical injury adds a whole other level of required commitment, both physical and mental. It ultimately takes a toll.

I had no idea back in 1996 when I walked into a weight room at 10:00 one fall night in Sarasota, Florida that I was going to decide to hang it up halfway through my workout, but I did. After wrestling with my thoughts for about twenty minutes, I decided I was done…and walked out of that gym lighter than I had felt in YEARS!

Heavy burdens overwhelm and destroy. ¹

I had absolutely no idea just how heavy what I was carrying had become…until I suddenly put it down. Words can’t describe it. I have repeated that experience numerous times in the 27+ years since that eye opening night in Sarasota.

Along the way, there have been things I knew I needed to put down but couldn’t, and things I had no idea I needed to put down, until I did. Some heavy things were put down in an instant, like paying off a large monthly bill, selling a boat, even walking away from a difficult client.

Other heavy things took time to walk away from or out from under, such as poor physical health, bad eating habits, lifestyle choices, even some mental health struggles with low self-esteem, self-doubt, and feeling I was always the problem.

Come to me and I will give you rest. ²

Another eye opener was when I gave God access to my life. Since then I have learned that while God is good at helping carry the loads of life, or perhaps helping identify things we should not carry at all…the enemy is good at taking the load you just put down and handing it right back to you. (Read that twice)

Guilt, shame, selfishness, pride, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, wrath, sloth, you name it. When we put the load down, the enemy shows up to hand it back to us and, far too often, we pick it right back up.

I encourage you to take a look at your life and honestly assess what you are carrying around that just needs to be put down. I know I can make quite a list. I bet we all can.

Get In The Boat. Do Your Part. Lighten The Load!

From Nose to Toes!

 

Shane/#16

 

 

 

Shane Hale is a redeemed & re-purposed professional baseball player and former corporate sales executive. Shane, his wife Michelle, and their three sons live in Mobile, Alabama, USA, where he works as a Realtor. While seeking God’s plan for his life in the summer of 2014, God told Shane to start writing. Today he shares his faith to encourage and inspire others to seek His plan for their lives as well. Check out his blog at http://www.the1sixproject.com.

 

 

Footnotes: (1) Read Psalm 38:4. (2) Read Matthew 11:28-30.

 

Pictures: Banner: Heavy, photo by Shane Hale. (1)  (2) . (3) I Will Give You Rest, creator unknown, from the Sermon “The Yoke That Gives Us Rest” (July 5, 2020) by Revd Kevin, Priest at St. Wilfrid’s Kirkby In Ashfield, UK, stwilfridskirkby.org.