Lay Down Your Burden

 Merridith Frediani seeks a lighter burden and a closer relationship with Jesus this Lent. 

What do you need to put down so you can grow closer to Jesus?

What should you stop sitting with so you can move forward?

What do you need to let go of so you can let Jesus in?

These are questions I ask myself this Lent. The theme for my Lent is surrender. It’s a word that’s stalked me for several months, popping up in unusual places. I suspect He is trying to get my attention.

As I spend time praying with and considering surrender, I realize it’s not simply an act of “letting go and letting God.” To truly surrender means I have to get stuff out of the way. I have to have open hands.

I want to release the worry that feels productive in times of uncertainty and unleash my grasp of control, not take things into my own hands and do them my way, but rather cede control to Him who loves me and knows so much more than me.

I strive to abandon my timeline and embrace His perfect one despite the accompanying question marks. I used to joke that I’d be fine following God’s plan if I only knew what it was but it wasn’t really a joke. If I know the plan, there’s no room for trust or surrender.

When my hands are full because I’m carrying too much or my back is tired from the weight I've chosen to hold, when I don’t stand up from the hurt I’m sitting in, when I clench tightly to the grudges I carry, I’m too preoccupied with all of it to notice the easy yoke being offered to me by Jesus. He doesn’t desire that we weigh ourselves down with trying to make it all work out. He doesn’t ask us to perseverate and scheme. He offers us a lighter burden, way lighter than the ones we insist on carrying.

God’s Word Offers Insight

It almost seems too easy on the face of it — lay down your burden and let Jesus carry you. So why is it so hard? Why is it so difficult to let Him take over? We know His plans for us are for goodness (Jeremiah 29:11). We know He takes care of His creation.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. (Matthew 6:25-28)

Yet here I sit. I worry about my kids: their future, their happiness, how they will do in school or work. I worry they won’t be able to realize their dreams. I worry someone will hurt them. It’s a heavy load sometimes, and my worry does not have any effect on any of these things.

Here we sit in a pile of regret (I shouldn’t have lost my patience) or anger (that behavior is frustrating and I’m tired of it) or bitterness (I wish things were different) or fear (what if the worst happens?). All these emotions only serve to hold me back instead of helping me forward toward Jesus.

Maybe it’s the human condition or original sin or the result of social media. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that this Lent is a chance to rise up with our Lord. This Lent is a time to be a phoenix rising up from the ashes. Without the ashes, the phoenix is just a bird. Be a phoenix.

Moving Forward

This Lent, I will work to put down the hurt I am yoked to and instead pick up the burden offered by Jesus: the light and easy one. I will tie up the fear, worry, and regret in a burlap sack and drag it to the Cross. I will leave it there and tell Jesus I am done with it. He will take care of it for me and I will have open hands to surrender to Him.

This Easter I want to rise up with Jesus and live anew: free, light, and closer to the One who made me, delights in me, and wants my surrendered heart. Join me. Sometimes it will be fun. Sometimes it will be hard. It will always be worth it.

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Copyright 2026 Merridith Frediani
Images: Canva