“Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” – Buddha

“A heart’s a heavy burden.” – Diana Wynne Jones

“Your mind is responsible for your freedom and your bondage.” – Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” – Proverbs 4:23 NIV

“Set your mind on things above – not on earthly things.” – Colossians 3:2 NLT

I believe the heaviest burdens we face in this world are centered in our thoughts and embedded deep within our emotions.  What we allow to penetrate both can define us in immutable ways – altering the course of our lives and destinies.  What we think about and what we choose to love has a way of ensnaring us or liberating us – holding us captive or setting us free.

When the mind and the heart are restless and hurt, we feel a sense of weightiness.  Isn’t it funny how we feel physically tired and lacking bodily strength by carrying around such intangible, immaterial things like thoughts and emotions?  Both cannot be physically seen or handled, yet their weight can crush and overwhelm us.

Think about that for a moment.  The weight of a heavy heart is filled with an unseeable emotion.  The powerful, onerous thought is invisible and obscure – massless and formless – yet the weightiness of it can take us to the brink of despair and breakdown.

Can you relate to a ponderous mind and a heavy heart?  Are you currently carrying around these invisible weights?  What lies at the center of these cumbersome burdens?

Can it be carrying a love around in your heart for someone that goes unnoticed or unreciprocated?  Is it a heart heavy with grief or rejection – a form of sadness, emptiness, or loss?

Are you weighed down with thoughts of uncertainty?  Is your mind filled with anxiety of what the future holds or is it heavy with indecisiveness or doubt?  Do you bear the burden of a mind consumed with obsession – fixated on a dream or goal that you fear is slipping away or impossible to attain?  Are your thoughts so demanding and toilsome that peaceful rest and sleep are illusive?

If you are thinking or feeling this way my friend, here are some things to consider:

THE PROBLEM IS SPIRITUAL IN NATURE

“So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to–the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” – Ephesians 4: 22-24 GNT

“And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].” – Romans 12:2 Amplified Bible

“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold metals.  The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.” – Jesse Owens

Those invisible battles in the heavy heart and the ponderous mind are spiritual in nature, yet we attempt to calm them and settle them in tangible, earthly ways.

We struggle endlessly to think of the right solution – to come up with a solid plan to solve our dilemma – a solution we can implement and physically put into action.  We fill the loneliness and the heaviness of heart with the first human being we can find who seems suitable.  We grapple with the disease, longing to do whatever we can to control it and rid ourselves of it.

But like the formless nature of a burdensome thought or the intangible emotions that weigh down our hearts, the answers too are invisible – spiritual solutions that begin with a change of heart and mind.  These changes begin to take root when we surrender them to God and allow Him to do a new work within us.

 “Create in me a clean heart oh God, renew a right spirit within me!” – Psalm 51:10 KJV

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:7 NLT

Seeing the problem as a spiritual one is the first step in the renewal process.  Here is the second one:

ENGAGE DAILY IN FEEDING YOUR SPIRIT

“The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on.” – Josiah Holland

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” – Jesus speaking in Matthew 4:4 KJV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” – Jesus speaking in Matthew 5:6 NIV

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Jehovah, God of hosts.” – Jerimiah 15:16

Just as the body needs nourishment to survive, so does the Spirit that resides within us – that part of us that renews our heavy heart and heals our troubled mind.

What are you doing DAILY to feed it?  If you are starving it my friend, it’s no wonder your heart is burdened, and your mind is restless!

It begins with prayer, inviting God into your circumstances and surrendering all to Him.  It’s believing God has ALL THE ANSWERS to whatever is weighing you down.

It’s fed by reading His Word – reinforcing and injecting spiritual truths that lighten the heaviness of heart and the weariness of mind.  There is power in the Word – a power that heals and renews us!

I cannot imagine living life – facing it head on with all its strife, confusion, and turmoil – absent of God’s spirit within me.  Focusing on and feeding that Spirit daily is what keeps me going!  It lightens the load that weighs on my heart.  It quiets my thoughts, strengthens my faith, and brings me peace of mind.

May the God of all comfort heal your heavy heart as only He can!  May He renew your mind – giving you the wisdom that comes when we surrender all to Him my friend 😊

God bless!