Taking on Extra

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
 
    I often take on additional requirements. I take on things that God is not asking me to take on. I add an extra meeting here, a helpful hand there and especially expectations.

    I find myself adding to God’s job description for my life. I add and therefore I burden. I burden myself and my addition also becomes a burden and hindrance to others.

    How about you? What have you added to your life that God never asked you to take on? 
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Harmful Help

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    “Let me help you with that.” I find myself saying this to others when they never asked or needed the help. Sometimes my desire to help actually gets in the way, makes things harder or messier. My help has become harmful.

    I do the same thing with God. “Let me help you with that”, I find myself saying. He never asked.

    So I take on too much. I take on burdens God never expected me to and find myself overloaded. I get overwhelmed by the emotional care needed or the physical requirements to carry burdens. I am bearing burdens I was never meant to bear.

    Carrying more than God asks I find myself weary, bitter and buried. Taking on more than God asks means that I do not trust that the “extra” burdens I have taken on will be taken care of. I say to God, “Let me help you with that.”

    Again, He never asked.

    As I take on too much, I offer help that actually harms. I harm myself, my family, others and the body of Christ.

    Has your help ever been harmful? Have you taken on more than God has asked? Will you pray and ask God to help you discern what burdens He is asking you to take and which ones He is not?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Burdening Alone

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    We were never meant to carry burdens alone and yet we do it all the time.

    I often find myself trying to do it all … alone. I find myself exhausted, frustrated and depleted. The load is too much. Taking on burdens alone means that I cannot do well what I said I would do. Well maybe I can for a while, but not long. Something suffers.

    Taking on burdens alone also means I deny someone else the opportunity to serve God how He has called and gifted them. I rob the community from the gifts and offerings of another.

    As I take burdens on alone I harm myself, my family, others and the body of Christ.

    Are you carrying burdens alone? Which burdens can you share with others? Would you ask God to help you see and know who to ask?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Responsibility

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

    God's responsibility and our responsibility. Often I confuse the two and find myself taking on responsibilities that God never asked me to take on.
    I take on a burden that was never meant for me to carry. I see a need and assume that I am the one to take it on and it becomes a burden. We call it responsibility and make it sound like we're doing something noble and really we are just taking over something we were never asked to. Allowing God to carry the burden requires that I trust him and that I believe he can do the job.
    It seems that when I take on a responsibility that isn't mine to take I'm essentially saying, 'You don't know what you're doing' or 'I could do this better than you'. Yep, that's what I'm saying to the God of the universe. Again, my mind and heart could use some reforming, don't you think?
    Do you take on a responsibility God never asked you to?

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**