galatians 6:1-2 (it's not about you)

The other day I saw a text I had sent a couple months ago, that read "It's crazy how often our lives are not about us." 
I read that over again, and I laughed. 
And then I cried.  
Galatians 6:1-2 reads, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

Christianity is often preached as an intensely personal faith, which it is! The God of the Universe knows the exact composition of dark matter just as well as he knows the emotional composition of my soul. 
But in embracing this idea of an intensely personal Savior, we have somehow also embraced the idea of an intensely personal walk with our Savior; as though the steps of our journey are for us and us alone. This is incorrect. The steps of our journey are closely intertwined with the steps of other believers around us in unknown and providential ways! 

Our relationship with other Christians can be paralleled to our own personal relationship with Christ:
In the same way that God is sensitive to my needs and desires, we Christians are comparably sensitive to the needs and desires of the people around us. I have wept and prayed and rejoiced with people I barely know, just as sincerely as I have wept and prayed and rejoiced with my own family. We are all intimately connected through Christ. 

However, Christ is not only sensitive to the burdens of our heart, but He carries them. "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." 

We would like to approach this "bearing burdens" concept as "I'll be praying for you," or "Can I bring you a meal?" But God's plan may be bigger than that. Sometimes, he will put us through pain and heartbreak. We will go through situations where we thought we were following The Plan-praying for guidance, reading our Bible, and somehow, even after that, we are still the ones hurt, maybe because of the actions of someone else!
It's crazy how often our lives are not about us. 

Sure-sometimes bearing another's burden is providing childcare or grocery money or saying a few extra prayers each night, but I have come to discover that bearing another's burden may literally mean just that. You will bear someone else's burden. 
You may find yourself subjected to an emotional burden or a physical burden, to "undeserved" pain, to a path that logically shouldn't be yours to walk. Bear it with grace and strength and humility. 

I'm going through this right now. I am experiencing pain because of someone else's life choices and how they influence my own life, in ways I didn't feel I had consented to. 
My first instinct was to be bitter-angry that the choices of another person should have such an immense impact on my own life! But after reading through lots of the New Testament, I realized what a privilege this is. 
What a holy, heady thing I have been charged with. 
There is no greater calling than to live my life as Christ lived His. He bears my burdens, and I will do the same as I am called. If He has placed this in my life, He has greater plans than I can see, and will surely provide me with the grace and the strength and the peace to handle this too. 

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ...