Feel the blessings, pick up the cross

FINAL DAY OF ACADEMY FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION

6;23 A.M

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."

My covenant group made several pledges last night. You know the kind: we'll get together once a month for the next six months as an accountability measure. We'll do what we said we were going to do.

Personally, through clinched teeth, I pledged to find for myself a spiritual director, to make a great effort to rise earlier in the morning and spend time alone with the one who created me, and, uh, to write the next book on my agenda, a tome about the faith response to Hurricane Katrina. That is something that has attracted me for some time, and I mentioned it the other night as we talked about things we hadn't done that we wished we would.

So, I'm stuck.

Then later in the night I made a statement that might have a huge effect on Mary and my future to someone who has at least a portion of that future in her hands. It is something we have talked about, but saying it and meaning it, about picking up our cross and literally following, was flat-out scary. But I said it, it's done.

Amazingly I slept the sleep of the blessed. I didn't toss and turn and though I'm still sleepy (as I've been all week) I feel energized. And today we go HOME.

But first, first, let's look at what it means to each of us to actually pick up our cross and go following Christ.

We do that without knowing, or even guessing at, what constitutes our next moves. We do that without dreaming whether that future is brighter or less so. We do that without making lists of things that are good and things that aren't and getting into those continuing arguments about our checkmarks on those lists.

No, we simply say, "Jesus, whatever you want, whatever you need, whatever I can do with you as my co-pilot on this flight, I will do it."

As the sun slowly creeps over the trees that circle the lake at this retreat center, with lines of pink fighting for life among the deep, deep blue and edges of gray, I am satisfied. I am gratified. I am blessed.

Can you hold your cross high above your head and shake it at the same sky, the same sky that Abram saw, the same sky that David saw blanketing a huge obstacle, the same sky that Jesus saw above a bloody cross that hurt him far more than our own?

Can you?

Let today be the day we recognize that your wonders never cease. Let today be the day we simply fall before dirty, bloody feet and wipe them clean with the tears of the justified, the tears of the saved.

This is my only blog of the day, but know this: My prayers are with you as we begin again the journey. May his Spirit be with you as you contemplate the next obstacle that Christ will lift you above even as your body says you can't possibly make it.

Pick up that cross. Fight the urge to sit it back down. Fight with the blood-line of the Savior pulsing in those aching arms. Pick it up. Go forth. Go on. Go till you can't, literally can't take another step, then let Jesus make that incredible difference.

WE CAN, we can, do anything and everything through Christ who not only strengthens us, but helps lift the weight of that cross.

Tired? Sure. Weary? Without question. Blessed? Absolutely, no doubt this morning, no matter the foe, no matter the battle, no matter the circumstance. Blessed indeed.

Please take from me my life when I don't have the strength to give it away to you, Jesus.