God's "Burden Economy"

I was emailing a friend about bearing one another's burdens this morning and it got me thinking about the scripture that addresses that. My first reading of the passage did little to shed light on the intent of the statement. If anything it kind of confused me, with verse 2 seeming to state something which was opposed to what verse 5 was saying.

Galatians 6:2-5 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."

Which leaves me with the question, do I or don't I carry someone else's burden or load? On one hand, it looks as though we fulfill the law of Christ if we do, on the other hand it seems that each one should carry his own load. My opinion is, a puzzle is an excuse to work on something, so I did some digging. The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon
shows that the two words, burden and load in the NIV, are not the same in the Greek. In verse 1,  "the word for "burdens" is baros.  It means "heaviness, weight, burden, trouble." In verse 5, "the word for load is "phortion" and means "of burdensome rites." "The first verse is speaking of helping one another through troubles and the second is speaking of the responsibility each person has in those troubles and sins." So if I follow, we are called to help carry another's burden, but not with the purpose of alleviating that person from their own personal responsibilities. So on top of dealing with all my own junk, I'm now supposed to find the resources to help carry someone else's problems as well. Just exactly how much is one individual capable of?

Here's where the funky economy comes in. We are all members of one body. When one member hurts we all hurt. It's how God has knit us together. It's a privilege to hurt for/with someone, to uphold them in prayer and to do battle on their behalf. It's a privilege, but where does the strength come from to shoulder even more than I already have on my back?

We ALL have "enough of our own stuff to carry". Interestingly enough, I find that the more I bear someone else's burdens, as God calls me to, the less time and energy I have to focus on my troubles. When I "carry" the "stuff" that God asks me to, on behalf of someone else, I find my load is lighter than when I try to carry all my own stuff. It's as though God says, "you can 'help' me carry this by putting your hand on the handle while I carry it, or you can take your stuff from me and try to carry it yourself". It's kind of like when one of my boys wants to 'help' me carry something which is far heavier than they can handle. They can struggle with it and perhaps even make a little progress with it if they insist on taking it alone. If they are willing to assist me rather than doing it for me, they get the pleasure of walking alongside me with their hands on the material I am carrying without bearing the full weight of the burden. 

God wants to do that for me with my burdens and He wants to bless me by allowing me to "help" Him carry the burdens of others. The key is to get my eyes off of my own woes long enough so that I can see where He's working and then I can come alongside and join in what He is doing.