I always filed my own income tax returns. At first I did it manually, but then the computer-based programs came out and this made my life easier; and when my mother-in-law needed someone to file her taxes with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), I was happy to file them for her. Because my wife was born in the United States and we lived in Canada, it was necessary for me to file her taxes twice: Once for the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS), once for the CRA. Things got stickier as the time went on due to new IRS regulations, and eventually my wife renounced her US citizenship. I certainly didn’t miss filing her taxes with the IRS!

In the early days of my dementia, back in the days where I didn’t believe I had a problem, my wife could see that I was beginning to struggle with the taxes. It came to a head one day as I was trying to file for my mother-in-law, and the results came back that she owed 12,000 dollars. She had gotten money back the previous year… My wife suspected something was wrong, and my mother-in-law hoped beyond hope that I had made a mistake. But I couldn’t find any mistakes! It was all very stressful; and when my wife, prompted by her mom, suggested that perhaps we should get a second opinion with a certified tax accountant, I had no problem with this. I don’t know how they did it, but my mother-in-law got money back from the government that year…

Once back from taking her mom to the accountant, my wife had a suggestion: “You know, I’ve noticed how stressful it is to file taxes! They’ve really gotten complicated lately, haven’t they?”

It was sweet of her to not mention my failing cognition…

“We can go to the same accountant mom went to to do our taxes too! I think paying a few dollars is well worth it to save you all the stress!”

And this began a new era of tax filing for us. Every year after this we would make our way to the tax accounting office, and every year we would come home with a large return!

After a couple of years of this, I couldn’t seem to remember why we had to file taxes in the first place; but since my wife’s explanation of, “so we can get money back from the government” did make sense, I dutifully let her assemble the appropriate papers and followed her to the office. I couldn’t help wondering why we hadn’t discovered the “tax accounting” office years earlier! It would have saved me years of headache!

No, I don’t miss tax season at all. As far as I’m concerned, it’s good riddance to bad company. There is that little piece, however, of the government cheque that came in the mail today… My wife said it was my tax return… I wasn’t sure what it all meant, but it’s always nice to receive gifts!

I believe that I have learned something. Sometimes in life we make work for ourselves! We take pride in being able to do things ourselves, things that would be easier for someone else to do, and as a result, we create some of our own stress. This makes me think of 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on [Jesus] because he cares for you.” (NIV). Here we actually see Jesus asking us to let Him take care of our problems! It isn’t a burden to Him. It is, in fact, a joy; for “…he cares for you”!

Jesus directly said something very similar when He was here on Earth: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV). Here, Jesus is asking us for an exchange! We give Him what is burdening us, and in exchange we take His yoke — which is easy and light as compared to our own, and this gives us the opportunity to learn firsthand of His humility and gentleness!

Just what is this “yoke”, this “burden”?

A “yoke” in the bible is often used as a symbol of bondage (See Jeremiah 28:2). In other words, Jesus is asking us to submit our burdens to His authority, and in so doing, He promises rest for our souls!

This isn’t always easy to do, however. As humans, we want to take care of things ourselves. Just like I couldn’t see spending money to file the taxes when I could file them myself, we humanly think that keeping our stress for ourselves is somehow making us stronger! If this rings true for you, I have news for you! Carrying our own burdens doesn’t make us stronger, it breaks us down. Meanwhile, Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you … and you will find rest for your soul.” Casting our burdens on Jesus gives us rest!

Don’t struggle to file your own taxes! Lose the stress by letting someone do it for you. In the same way, don’t struggle to carry your own stress. Jesus is there, not only to help, but to “give you rest for your soul”!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries