Take Up Your Love and Follow

I don’t mind telling you that I have struggled with this Gospel. For several weeks, I have wrestled with it. I am good with the first part, “Who do you say I am?” I feel confident in my belief in Jesus, the Son of the Living God, who is One with the Father.   It is the second part that ties me in knots. Frankly, nothing in me wants to “take up a cross.” I am more than willing to follow, but frankly, crosses scare me.  I always feel inadequate for the task of carrying crosses.  Too often, I moan and groan in the face of difficulties. And, I admit, sometimes I feel put upon when the crosses in life come.

As I prayed through my unrest with this Gospel, I heard the voice of Jesus in my prayer. Jesus spoke in my heart. His words calmed my soul. I hope they will do the same for you. Jesus said.

My Dear One, 

Please stop fretting and breathe. Put down your fear, worry, and anxiety, and rest in my arms. Just breathe. I am here. I am with you.

I understand your fear. Thinking about taking up the crosses that life gives us is terrifying. But don’t allow yourself to forget that while the way of the cross is rugged, it is never the end. Not even close. I want to tell you about carrying my cross from my heart. You only see my journey to Calvary from the outside looking in; you see the awful, and your eyes fill with tears for me. You only see one side. Let me tell you about the other. I want to tell you what my journey with my cross meant to me.

I admit I wasn’t looking forward to that Friday. I asked My Father to take it away. He didn’t. It was His path I was on. You didn’t see that while My Father didn’t take the cross from me, He came to me. He was there, fully present, helping me. He never for an instant left me alone. Yes, it was hard. But I love Him, and I love you. Every pain, every fall, every agony, He held me tight in the arms of His love. I was one with Him, and together, we journeyed to Calvary. I also saw you. You were with me. My love for you and your love for me merged on that awful Friday. Your love made carrying my cross bearable.

When you remember the who and the why of your crosses in life, you will take them up without hesitation. You already have. But you didn’t even recognize them as crosses. Your love was more expansive and far more powerful than the pain of any cross. I could remind you what they are, but you would tell me those were not crosses. It was just part of loving. 

 Crosses come to all of us. No one goes looking for them. When they arrive, we embrace them and remember the love. I saw the face of my Father and your face, too, and I knew you were with me. I no longer saw the cross; I only saw the love. Look into the heart of the crosses you bear and see the love at its core. See the abundance, not the lack. See the blessing, not the pain. Immerse yourself in love, and the cross loses its power. The cross is not the end. The cross is never the end. Do not give it more power than it deserves.  

They say I died for the sins of the world. I never saw it that way. I did not carry my cross for the sins of the world. I carried my cross for the love of the world. I carried it for my love for you and your love for me. You will do the same. Crosses in life are not punishment; they are the fullness of love.

I am with you, loving you always to the end of time.  

-Jesus

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen