Confessions of a Neil Diamond Fan...

Let me start off this post by dedicating it to my momma, who from a young age has been teaching me to be three important things: A godly wife and mother, a chocoholic, and a lover of all things Neil Diamond. I must also here give props to God. Usually these blogging moments of inspiration seem to come while interrupting me in my sleep at 4:45ish in the morning. However, seeing as I haven’t been doing much of that these days, God’s gotten creative and has decided to inspire me while sitting in traffic. Something, sadly, that I do much more of.

Anyway, now back to Neil Diamond. I should probably be ashamed that I’ve seen him more times in concert than any other band, but I’m really not. From the time I could walk I’ve been stealing walk-mans and hogging “My Diamond” cassettes, cd’s, ect. It’s true, we have photographic evidence. But one of my favorite songs is his rendition of “He Ain’t Heavy; He’s My Brother.”

“The road is long


With many a winding turn


That leads us to who knows where
 Who knows when


But I'm strong
 Strong enough to carry him


He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go


His welfare is of my concern


No burden is he to bear
We'll get there


For I know
He would not encumber me


He ain't heavy, he's my brother”

I’ve always loved these lyrics and stories behind them. There have been numerous accounts as to their origins, each story a little different. Anywhere from a young girl carrying her baby brother to my favorite story, men in the line of battle. Rumor has it that young man’s leg was blown off while serving in active duty. One of his comrades found him on the brink of death, picked him up, and started carrying him towards safety. His savior was shot numerous times due to his slow pace of bearing the man’s heavy load. Finally, after miles, medics arrived for relief rushing to the man. There the doctor looked at him and exclaimed he was lucky to even be alive, how could he have carried such a heavy burden so far. The soldier then looked at the medic and replied, “He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother.”

What a beautiful picture this is of bearing one another’s burdens. But alas, that is not what seems to have brought me to tears. It is also a beautiful picture of giving our burdens to Christ. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us. It’s funny how many times I really neglect to do this. Sometimes I feel as if my problems are too messy, too crazy, too much for me to even organize them in a prayer for help. Why would God want to hear about my problems when I can’t even seem to figure out exactly what they are? “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)

Sometimes, I neglect taking them to God for the simple reason that I’d much rather not think about them at all. It hurts too much. I’d rather ignore them instead of trying to work through them. Or I look at them and think, “There’s worse things going on in this world. I don’t want to waste God’s time on this stupid little thing.” But these are unholy thoughts. God wants to hear from us, no matter where we stand. Just like the song says, our welfare is his concern. If God cares about providing for the birds of the air or the grass of the field, how much more will He provide for us? How much more does He care? We are worth far more to Him than birds. (Matthew 6:25-34).

 

We stand with the ability to directly communicate with the Holy Creator of the Universe and we think He can’t handle our problems? That our burdens are too great? That we are too ashamed of them? Newsflash, He knows them anyway! You’re not hiding anything! We worry so much about our futures and plans and finances and families. Psh! Like we have any control of them anyway! We say things like, “I think I just need to do this.” Or, “I think I need that.” We think too much! As an almost 23 year old I can honestly say I have no freaking clue what I need. So thank God because He does and He’s providing it. The only thing I NEED to do, is do what He says! But its embarrassing how often “listen to God” gets erased from my “To Do” list. In fact, it takes a Neil Diamond song to come on before I finally listen. Before I realize I’ve been harboring these burdens to myself far too long and God says, “Let me have these. I want them. I want all of you. I will take care of them. I already took care of them. I bought them along with you when I went to that cross. You don’t need to worry anymore about them. Just listen to my version of the song, Rachel”:

“The road is long


With many a winding turn


That leads us to you know not where, but I do.


And I'm strong.
Strong enough to carry you…

…And the load doesn’t weigh me down

You ain't heavy, You’re my daughter.

So we go on…”