Bear One-Another’s Burdens

This week in our priesthood group meeting, we had an excellent discussion about Alma’s charge in Mosiah 18:8 to:”…bear one another's burdens, that they may be light.”



I recounted a story about going on a hike at Wolfeboro scout camp. We were hiking to an overnight campout away from the main camp. I was a 14-year-old scrawny kid (maybe 130 pounds dripping wet), and after 3 or 4 miles, I just sat down and said I couldn’t carry my pack any further. One of the adult scout leaders took my pack from me, said: C’mon. You can do it.” and set off with my pack and his. He bore my burden.

Another person suggested that sometimes, just assuming the burden for someone else may not be the best choice. He offered that perhaps helping them to bear their burdens may be better than just taking them away.

A third person told of a scout hike in the high Uintas where he was tasked to bring up the rear. He had only gone a hundred yards or so when he rounded a bend and found two boys sitting in the middle of the trail. They said that they could not go any further because their packs were too heavy. The leader opened their packs and had them hide several items by the side of the trail with a marker so they could find them again. They left heavy flashlights, a 50-foot rope, and several other items behind, and again started up the trail. Apparently, this scenario repeated itself several times before they reached their destination. Nothing absolutely essential was left behind, but their packs were considerably lighter. They finished the hike. He literally lightened their burdens.

The Savior will lighten our burdens if we let Him. He said in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

He offered great comfort to us in Isaiah 41:13 when He said:

For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

It’s easy and natural to talk about the Savior’s love for each of us, to discuss the beauty of the plan of salvation, to suggest that He knows our names, and He is painfully aware of the burdens we all carry in this life. All of that is certainly true. He does know us. He does love us. He will help us. He suffered incomprehensibly for us. He gave his very life for us.

I believe that if we took a walk with The Savior through any town in the world, He could point to every person and tell us their name, about their burdens; the tests they face in life, their joys and sorrows, and the innermost desires of their hearts. Remember His conversation with the woman at the well? He knew her, her joys, her sorrows, and her failures. We cannot begin to comprehend the depth of His care and concern for us, or the pain He feels when those for whom He suffered make light of His transcendent sacrifice.

It’s worthwhile to contemplate His love and concern, but He has challenged us to demonstrate our appreciation, not by passive, yoga-like contemplation, but by action. We need to reach out to others. We are his hands. We need to lighten the burdens of others, and in so doing, lighten our own burdens. It seems, at first, paradoxical that we can lighten our load by helping others with theirs. The anonymous scout leader who carried my pack certainly had more poundage on his back, but he helped a kid to achieve something. His step was lighter because he did so – cheerfully and without chastisement. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf introduced his talk, called, You Are My Hands, given in the April 2010 General Conference, as follows:

A story is told that during the bombing of a city in World War II, a large statue of Jesus Christ was severely damaged. When the townspeople found the statue among the rubble, they mourned because it had been a beloved symbol of their faith and of God’s presence in their lives.
Experts were able to repair most of the statue, but its hands had been damaged so severely that they could not be restored. Some suggested that they hire a sculptor to make new hands, but others wanted to leave it as it was—a permanent reminder of the tragedy of war. Ultimately, the statue remained without hands. However, the people of the city added on the base of the statue of Jesus Christ a sign with these words: “You are my hands.”
There is a profound lesson in this story. When I think of the Savior, I often picture Him with hands outstretched, reaching out to comfort, heal, bless, and love. And He always talked with, never down to, people. He loved the humble and the meek and walked among them, ministering to them and offering hope and salvation.
That is what He did during His mortal life; it is what He would be doing if He were living among us today; and it is what we should be doing as His disciples and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On this beautiful Easter morning, our thoughts and hearts are drawn to Him—the Hope of Israel and the Light of the World.
As we emulate His perfect example, our hands can become His hands; our eyes, His eyes; our heart, His heart.

“Our hands can become His hands, our eyes, His eyes, our heart, His heart.” It seems to me that this is the key to progress and the key to true joy and happiness on this earth. In Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter 6, Verse 2, he counsels them:

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

The law of Christ that Paul is referring to is the law The Savior gave that superseded the Law of Moses, as found in John 13:34-35:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Just now, as I am writing this, my wife gave our 3-year-old grandaughter a page of Santa Claus stickers and a piece of paper to stick them on. She squealed with delight. My wife smiled at me and I at her. This is but a small sample of the great joy we can experience as we become the Savior’s hands, hands, eyes, and heart.

When we give freely and without judgment, we obey the new commandment. When we extend a hand of fellowship to someone new (or someone we have known for years), when we put our arm around the shoulder of someone who is suffering, when we mow a lawn or give a loaf of bread to someone with humbleness and love, we are the Savior’s hands. When we recognize a need and respond, when we visit the sick and the lonely, when we do as the Savior asks and complete visiting or home teaching, when we attend a funeral to support those who have suffered a loss, when we go to the temple and act as proxy for an anxiously-waiting spirit, we are doing things that the Savior himself would do. He gives us the opportunity to be his hands, eyes and heart – to act as angels while yet in mortality and do His work for Him.

I believe that this is one of the facets of the great blessing of becoming saviors on Mount Zion. Elder Theodore M. Burton said on August 8, 1966 in his speech at BYU, Exaltation is a Family Affair:

With the restoration of the gospel in our day also came a restoration of the priesthood, a restoration of priesthood blessings, a restoration of priesthood ordinances, a restoration of priesthood responsibilities; for the chosen people were chosen to give service to others, to assist those who needed help and to render aid to those who cannot help themselves. This is why they were chosen-to be the servants and handmaidens of God, … “to be saviors on Mount Zion."

So it can be rightfully said that we are closest to the Lord when we serve others, as great king Mosiah told us in Mosiah 2:17:

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Elder Uchtdorf closed his talk thusly:

…every day, as we contemplate with reverence and awe how our Savior embraces us, comforts us, and heals us, let us commit to become His hands, that others through us may feel His loving embrace.

I can contemplate of no greater temporal blessing than this – being a mortal angel for the Lord.