Digital Only: Young Adults
What It Really Means to Bear One Another’s Burdens
An experience from my youth showed me how much we need each other on our way back to Heavenly Father.
When I was in Young Men, I embarked on a rigorous hike up the tallest mountain in Arizona: Humphreys Peak. Our goal was to use mirrors to signal light to other participants on other peaks once we’d reached the summit. This required us to haul the heavy mirrors in our backpacks, and it was a tiring climb.
I remember feeling pain and exhaustion from the load on my back, which seemed to get heavier with each step I took. I often contemplated turning back, wishing I could shed my backpack and finally find relief. But with encouragement from my dad and my quorum advisers, I kept going. When we finally reached the summit, it was so fulfilling to look out at the incredible view and take off our backpacks. But it was clear to me that I could not have made it to my destination on my own.
Contemplating this experience from my youth has helped me realize that everybody is climbing a mountain in mortality. We all have a metaphorical backpack on our shoulders, and within each of our backpacks is a load of burdens. Some of us may have lighter burdens, while others are carrying almost unbearable loads, but one thing is for certain: we can’t carry them and make it to our destination alone.
Ministering to the One
On this journey of life, there are many who feel like the weight on their back is pushing them to the brink of collapse. And while some ask for help, others may hide their heavy burdens from others, afraid of appearing weak or being burdensome.
We all have different burdens to bear. But as we allow the Holy Ghost to guide us in our own struggles, Jesus Christ will come to our aid. He is far stronger than us all and will enable us to share His light and minister to others as He did, one by one.
When we know someone is struggling and we attempt to fix their problems, it is highly unlikely that we will be truly ministering to them as effectively as we could. But if we listen, empathize, and reach out to support them, we can truly “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light”—which is what ministering is all about (see Mosiah 18:8).
Sharing the Light of the Savior
As we are yoked with Jesus Christ, He can enable us in our own struggles and help us lift others as well. As Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “Those who understand the true spirit of ministering realize that it goes far beyond merely being nice. Done in the Lord’s way, ministering can have a far-reaching influence for good that ripples throughout all eternity.”1
With help from my loved ones, I was able to carry the burden on my back and reach the top of Humphrey’s Peak. And I know that as we help those around us by seeking to understand and to lift, we will be able to share the Savior’s light and make each other’s burdens light. We need each other. And our joy will be full as we reach our heavenly destination alongside our fellow Christlike climbers.