Put Your Burdens in a Basket

Sometimes our burdens—or worries—get out of control.

Today I chatted with a dear friend I don’t see very often. Since the beginning of this year, she said, life had begun to overwhelm her. She worried about many things: her bills, learning to use new technology for work, her brother’s finances, an overseas trip she would like to make, her boss’s wife, her own health, her elderly mother, updating her will. The list grew and grew.

My friend realized that she had become concerned about so many things that her worries began to multiply, as described in Psalm 94:19: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul” (NASB).

Looking for a way to break the cycle of worry, she decided to put into practice the advice of Psalm 55:22, “Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you” (NLT).

She wrote each of her concerns on a separate slip of paper and put the papers in a basket. She kept writing until she had listed every issue that she had been fretting over. When she ran out of things to list, she figuratively and literally lifted her “burden basket” to God and let Him take care of them.

She told me the process gave her a feeling of release and relief, knowing that the Lord is faithful.

The burden basket remains on my friend's table and continues to be a tangible reminder to her of God’s willingness to take her burdens. “I know that once I’ve given it to Him, I don’t have to worry or think about that problem again,” she said.

I like the idea of using a “burden basket” to give my problems to the Lord. How about you? Do you have a symbolic way of taking your burdens to God? Share in the comments.