Today my dorm mom took me and my fellow RA's to Lackawanna State Park. After having us each choose a large rock from the side of the dam, she shared with us from John 8:31-36. For convenience's sake I've added these verses here, taken from the NIV:
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31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
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From this passage, our dorm mom shared with us what she has been learning about our need to surrender our burdens to Christ. Freedom is ours, but true freedom comes through Christ alone. We need to let go of our sin, our failure, our worry, our fear - whatever it is that is weighing us down - and recognize that because we have a relationship with Christ, those things have been done away with.
Naturally, the rocks we had chosen represented those burdens. They were so close to us the whole time, and yet so easily forgotten while she spoke. I think that burdens, and sin, are often the same way. Sometimes I forget that they are there. I forget that I have them because I am just so used to having them around. If I carry one long enough, I may even deceive myself into thinking that it's not really that much of an inconvenience or that it's somehow perfectly normal for a person to lug a rock the size of her head around wherever she goes. But, if I were to be honest, I would have to say that more often than not I do recognize my need to be rid of the burden, but I still struggle to let it go. I am so used to having it around that it becomes habitual and I set it down just to pick it up again. It's almost as if I literally lay this physical thing, this rock, at Christ's feet and as I am turning to walk away and leave it behind I glimpse my hands out of the corner of my eye and am horrified by the fact that I am somehow still clinging to it.
But hallelujah, that does not have to be the case! If we are in Christ then we are free and free indeed! Those burdens are no longer mine to bear. That sin does not have to control me. By the grace of God, through the work of Christ His Son, I AM FREE!
So, after spending some personal time in prayer, each surrendering our burdens to the Lord, we threw our rocks, our burdens, into that water. The sheer symbolism of the act was profoundly powerful. I really can't put into words what I was thinking and feeling as I watched my rock disappear beneath the surface. What I can tell you is that I will remember the sound of that splash - that beautiful kersploosh - for a long, long time. Today I left my burdens in Tunkhannock Creek.Labels: journal/quiet time, reflections