My Yoke Is Easy

I hear a lot about “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” but I had to think for a moment before I remembered the rest of that statement.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your soul.” Regardless of how easy Jesus’ yoke is , we don’t benefit unless we take his yoke upon our own shoulders.

But he also said we needed to learn of him. For quite the first time, I realized that if I’m going to have rest for my soul, I need to learn to walk in that yoke the same way that Jesus walked in it. I have to learn how he walked. I have to learn of him.

When we look at the real Jesus, it forces us to revise our definition of “meek and lowly of heart.” He verbally shredded the Pharisees, got violent with people who were misusing the practice of money-exchange in the temple, and quite totally failed to stroke his mother’s ego. He refused to answer some, and refused to let anyone lay hands on him until his time was come. No little pussy- cat, was Jesus.

We also see that he did nothing unless he saw his Father doing it. He said nothing unless he heard his Father saying it. Ah. This , then, is “meek and lowly of heart.”

So let’s get practical.

Because I got thoroughly worn out, I have let my fitness routine slide in a big way. These days I’m doing well if I get out for a 2-mile walk a couple times, and spin once a week. A long way from nine miles of jogging, a spin, and half an hour of weight-lifting every week. Not surprisingly, I’ve also put on a couple pounds. I want it off. Now . I want to be back in my fitness routine now . I want to have matching goose eggs on my arms now .

But I want rest for my soul even more. Certainly a fitness routine doesn’t preclude having rest for my soul, but striving to enter into a fitness routine does. I haven’t stopped desiring it. I don’t expect to have muscles without working out, and I frankly don’t expect to lose the pounds I want to lose without some jogging. But it isn’t happening now. So I can wait quietly. I can be OK with my present situation while I continue to ask the Lord for the grace to accomplish my desire.

There are a lot of very good, very wonderful things we can want to do and have and even be. But their being wonderful does not give us the power to struggle to acquire them without our soul losing its rest. We will not have rest for our soul unless we learn to be meek and lowly of heart—unless we learn to say “yes, Lord.”

It’s difficult.

But it makes the road easy and the burden light.

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