~ A Meditation from “It Is Up To YOU”, Season V – Living Stoic Spirituality Daily

I am learning to shift the way I pray about the weight I’m carrying. For a long time, I begged life to be easier, for certain responsibilities to disappear, for problems to solve themselves. Sometimes they did lighten, but often they didn’t – and I was left feeling abandoned or unlucky. Now I’m beginning to ask for something different: not a lighter burden, but broader shoulders. Instead of insisting that the load shrink, I’m asking to grow strong enough, wise enough, and supported enough to carry what is truly mine to carry with grace.

You know what it is to feel overwhelmed by what’s on your plate – family pressures, work demands, inner battles no one else can see. It’s natural to want it all to go away. But some burdens are connected to your purpose, your growth, and your love; dropping them entirely would mean walking away from who you are called to become. Today, consider asking less for escape and more for capacity. Where do you need resilience, clearer boundaries, better support, or deeper trust? As your shoulders broaden – through practice, humility, and help – the same weight that once crushed you can become the very training that makes you strong.

Ever-Present Light, may we no longer see every heavy season as a sign that we are cursed or forgotten. Instead, strengthen us from the inside out. Give us broader shoulders, steadier hearts, and clearer minds to meet the responsibilities that are truly ours. Show us where to say no, where to ask for help, and where to simply grow. And as we are fortified, may we use that strength not just to survive our own burdens, but to help carry the weight of those who walk beside us. Amen.