I see you.
I know it’s heavy.
You carry it around.
You roll it up the hill each day,
and at night it rolls back down.
Feeling more like Sisyphus,
than a headstrong Hercules.
Sometimes
the weight of it threatens
to bring you to your knees.

Yet somehow you
summon up the strength
to move through another day.
But I see you.
It’s getting heavier.
And it’s getting in the way.

Come then,
sit beside me
and lay your burden down.
For, I know what it’s like
to carry heavy things around.

Join me by the water’s edge,
in the soft and dewy grass.
Listen to the wind and
count the clouds as they float past.
In stillness, and in silence.
We don’t have to say a word.
No matter, what we’d choose to say,
the trees have already heard.

Toss a pebble in the water,
just to watch the ripple spread.
Breathe slowly, fully, deeply,
let each exhale clear your head.

Let each inhale fill your lungs,
with something nourishing and new.
Be present with each breath.
There’s nothing else you need to do.

Watch sunlight sail across the sky.
Hear the songbirds sing.
Do you think that they know what it’s like
to carry heavy things?

I do.
I know it’s heavy.
And you carry it around.
You roll it up the hill each day,
and at night it rolls back down.
Feeling quite the failure,
stuck behind the stone.

Lay it down.
Come sit with me.
We are not alone.

The grace is in the sitting.
Once lost, we can be found.
Let us find out how it feels
to set our burdens down.