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Good morning. Jesus told his followers, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.’  Carrying their own cross was what condemned criminals had to do, on the one-way journey to their crucifixion. It meant surrender, pain, and death. There are parallels for the Christian, warns Jesus. There should be the surrender of all forms of self-interest; spiritual endurance, no matter how painful; and a dying to pride, ego, to anything that hinders our following Jesus. His words in Scripture continue: ‘Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’ In other words, it’s by dying to self, that we can come alive in ways we’d never imagined.
For many, the concept of taking up one’s cross is associated with suffering. Yet I’ve found a further dimension helpful, in one of the perennial battles of my life: living as my authentic self is a cross that I alone can bear.
Only I can take responsibility for my actions, words, choices. None of us can control what life brings us, but how we respond is up to us – and reacting well may mean surrendering short term self-interest. Then there’s also being aware of my own strengths and weaknesses, learning to work with my own quirks of character and personality, and I’m sure I’m not alone in sometimes wishing I was different!   But in my experience, taking up the cross, shouldering the burden of being who I am, wrestling over questions of identity, can become easier through the years – even if it’s not without hiccups along the way. Lord Jesus Christ, true to yourself, you walked the way of the cross for us. Give us courage to take up our crosses, and follow you. Amen