I'm Published - Again!

The Lutheran Digest has just accepted my article, "Take it to the Cross" for publication! I'm so excited! Read it here and share it with someone. I write to touch people. Blessings!

Be Prepared

One spring, when I worked at Western Wisconsin Technical Institute in La Crosse, WI, I decided to start walking to and from work, about 12 blocks, to regain my girlish figure. I am a “prepared” person – I could live for a month in the desert on the contents of my purse alone.

So for this 12-block hike (La Crosse city blocks are not a mile long as they are in Phoenix), I packed up my Nike survival bag: two towels to wipe away sweat or soak up blood if I got hit by a car; an extra pair of shoes (in case I lost one in the car-hitting-me accident); a paperback novel in case of a massive traffic jam with me being trapped on the opposite side of the street from my work; a curling iron should my hair go straight, a mirror by which to see my hair going straight, shorts and tennis shoes to wear on my home-bound way. With this 20-lb. bag was on one shoulder and my 10-lb. purse on the other, 12 short blocks felt like a 26-mile marathon!
Needless to say, the next day, I lightened the load considerably, carrying a lighter purse and a much lighter survival bag.

Don’t we often do that to ourselves? Anticipate trouble? Carry around much more baggage than we need to? A friend told me, “Worrying is like making a down payment on a debt that may never come due.” I like that! God says in Matthew 6:27b, “…..who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” In fact, we may take years OFF of our lives by our incessant worrying. We can never anticipate where life will take us. Only God has that road map before Him.

And, oh, the baggage we carry on our shoulders! “Oh, what needless pains we bear!” We carry the past into the present and project it on into the future at times. There is guilt, shame, regret, heartache, resentment, blame – none of it an honorable armor to wear or to share. We can “dump” the restricting burdens on Jesus and lighten our burdens by clothing ourselves in the Holy Spirit. Let’s get on with today, looking forward to tomorrow with gladness, lighter and more free.

The only survival bag needed in our walk through life is faith in God, communion with Him in prayer, and the openness of our heart to His Spirit. He will “prepare” us for any trial of fire we walk through. He will lift away the baggage we sometimes insist on carrying from the past, taking the load onto His own shoulders. He died on the cross to give us eternal life in heaven with Him. He wipes away all sin and because He loves us, He cares nothing about our pasts. The slate is wiped clean with His blood. Got it? OK now, shoulders back, smile on face - truly “let go and let God.” And only “prepare” with joy for life everlasting with Him.

“What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear,
what a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer.”
Song: What a Friend We Have in Jesus