Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Today's teaching about discipleship and following the Lord assumes what every human being must know. And that is, every human life comes with a cross. Or several. There are no exceptions.
To live, to make choices, to live with the consequences of one's choices and those of others, is to be burdened. We can deny that. We can say life is fun, life is easy, and life is pure blessing. But none of those assertions can stand before the reality of the cross.
I think of Abraham Lincoln's riddle about the dog with five legs.
"If you count a dog's tail as a leg, how many tails does a dog have?
It has only four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
And yet many Americans, who might never have heard of Abraham Lincoln, live with dozens of erroneous beliefs about life and the way it should be. Given these fundamental misunderstandings, they live in perpetual disappointment and refuse the responsibility of being human.
Every human life is burdened with crosses. Freedom is a cross. It's not hard to recognize my own, though it might take some reflection and sorting out to decide which ones are not my own. And then we must find -- or ask for -- the courage to bear them.
Hearing the Lord's invitation, charmed by him and convinced that he is "my Savior," I hear him command me to take up my cross and follow him. And then I ask Him for the courage to bear it.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.