Devotion of the Week
March 7, 2004
By: Delila Miller, Pastor
Trace Branch/Campground UMC

". . . and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 10:38 (NIV) Right around Ash Wednesday, I finally decided what I had planned to give up during the Lenten season. Well, actually, it wasn't as much what I planned to give up as it was what I was going to add. I decided this year for Lent that I would "bear my cross" daily, literally--meaning that I would wear a prominent cross as part of my wardrobe each day.

Now, for most of you seasoned Christians and pastors, that probably doesn't sound like much. Most Christians, especially ladies, wear a necklace with a small gold cross. However, I had broken mine. So, I had two options. One was to wear the large wooden cross that Rev. Faris had given me and the other was to wear a beautiful large light blue/dark blue jeweled cross necklace that a friend of mine recently gave me.

Let me just share with you some of my revelations.

On wearing the wooden cross that Rev. Faris gave me, I found that it was too long. It hung long enough to hit my desk as I was working. It constantly got in my way. Eventually, it became so bothersome; I tied another knot in it to make it shorter.

As a Christian, carrying your cross can be rather bothersome. Sometimes it might interfere with life and get in the way of what we're trying to do--so much so that we have to make an adjustment. There are a lot of ways we do this. For instance, not standing on Biblical beliefs or adjusting them to fit the public view.

After a few days of wearing the wooden cross, I decided to wear the blue jeweled cross. The first obstacle, of course, was that it didn't match many things in my wardrobe. The second obstacle was that it was heavy.

Bearing your cross as a Christian doesn't always "match"--you might just stick out in the crowd. And yes, that cross does sometimes get heavy. But it remains light compared to the cross our Savior carried.

I will continue to "bear my cross daily" throughout the season of Lent. And I pray that through this journey, Christ will continue to enlighten me.