"I Will Cast All My Cares Upon You"

When my church has its healing service at the end of the month, we sing a song as each person comes up for anointing of oil and laying on of hands. We sing:

"I will cast all my cares upon you
I lay all my burdens down at your feet
And anytime that I don't know what to do
I will cast all my cares upon you."

And then the song stays in my head for at least a week or two. It's got a sappy, mournful but sweet melody, and on some level, I hate it. My parents are classical musicians, so the praise music tradition will never be easy for me, I confess.

This week, I've been glad to have that song in my head, as my friend had her brain surgery (all seems to have gone well--hurrah!).

So often, I want to think that I can solve everything. And many situations give me the illusion that I can. Not so when a friend has brain surgery. All I can do is pray.

Several years ago, a colleague was having a difficult time with bladder cancer. When I was wishing we could do more for him, one of my Christian colleagues said, "We'll pray for him."

I said, "I guess that's all we can do."

She was quick to correct me: "It's the most important thing we can do."

Indeed.

I don't know why prayer feels so passive to me, especially in situations like mine this week, where I can't go in and do the brain surgery. It's good to have a song, even one with a sappy melody, that reminds me that I've got a God who would like to shoulder my burdens and who can accept all my cares.