Carrying Someone's Load

I don't know who made up the saying that God doesn't give us more than we can handle, but I don't believe it.  Every one of us has seen people who have received more than they were capable of handling.  Addicts medicate themselves because their world is more than they can handle.  Abusers take out their anger at a world that is too much for them to handle on the abused.  People kill themselves every day because the world has become more than they can handle.  People have mental breakdowns because they can no longer cope with all they have been given to handle.  So when a crisis comes, and a person is grieving a loss, I recommend not using this platitude to try to give them strength.

But you know who can just about handle anything?  A community.*  A community can support a person through their grief.  They can bring food, provide solace and support, help with the household chores inside and out, provide monetary assistance, and help make a way where there is no way.  We need to remember that we are social creatures, living in communities with other people, learning and caring about our neighbors.  We have the capacity to help those who have received more than they can handle by shouldering some of the load.  Whether our gestures are small or large, as long as they are heartfelt, they will greatly impact the life of the griever.  Take some time and think about something you could do to help make a griever's burden a little lighter.  Chances are, by helping them out, you'll feel good doing it.

*This idea is not original to me and been espoused by Nadia Bolz-Weber.