You Were Never Meant to Carry This – Every Mountain, Every Valley

Greetings Dear Reader,

I recall fondly that my dad and I used to play a game called Feudal.  It was one of the popular Bookshelf Games.   In it you set up your army and used some very contrived moves to attach your opponent.  There were mountains and rough terrain on the board.  One had navigate around mountains and only certain pieces could go on rough terrain.   

The journey is often over rough terrain.  We have to traverse it whether we wish too or not.  We climb rough rugged mountains.  We traverse deep dark valleys.  Some days even smooth soft paths hurt our feet.   Some days every step is an effort.

Other days we the journey is easy in the warm sunlight.  The wind is at your back and the path is filled with loving fellow travelers.   Some days the journey is filled with real joy.

The challenge is to realize that the easy path and the rough terrain are all necessary and good.  They are all part of our movement toward home and permanent good.   It is never the journey younger me.  It is the one we follow on the journey.  It is the love we show our fellow travelers.

No matter where I find myself in the journey make the most of it.  I must follow in faith and only carry the things that I need.  It will get better. To resit the path is, after all, futile.  

Mountain Top – Second Chapter of Acts

The mountain tops are not as tall

The valleys seem to be getting small

Still the river rolls deep inside me

Take the dreams that didn't grow

And visions that melted in the snow

Take away my laugh

Still I'll climb the pathway home

With my hand in your hand

My life in your life

My spirit will rise

Until I see the rainbow

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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You Were Never Meant to Carry This – Bondage

Greetings Dear Reader,

We are bound to so many things.  We are tied to our possessions, careers, habits, and addictions.  We are bound by the consequences of our choices.   We seek freedom but shackle ourselves to things that prevent true freedom. 

We are meant to be free from the things that hinder the journey.  Joy comes from the freedom to make the journey without burdens.  It is not freedom from obligation or responsibility.  It is not freedom from commitment or duty to others.  It is that all of this must spring from our commitment to follow Christ.

It is only in Christ that we find freedom from our bondage to the things that enslave us.  We live and move in Christ.  Freedom is found in obedience to the journey.  We will eventually be free from all that besieges us.  Until then we can find freedom to follow by refusing to carry the things that hinder our walk.

If You Want to Get Free – Waterdeep

In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine

I heard the word of the Lord

He said "Take off your shoes,

this is holy ground too

you know I came for the sick and the bored."

Beneath the selling of beers

And the welling up of tears

Out beyond the beam of the remote control

There's a whispering voice

That the humble ear ears

that says "I am still waiting

for you to ask just to be made whole."

And the bush it was burning on the mountain top

and though the leaves never blackened, the fire didn't stop

That's the way that it works in this old life of sin

You gotta let the fire burn you just to get clean within

I am so often deterred from my actual intent

by distractions in a cellophane wrap

And the cruel voice that taunts me when I open them up

to find just one more box full of crap

It's where you're mocked while you abstain

and then cursed when you give in

It's all a game that's impossible to beat

But there's a peaceful refrain God'll sing in your brain

when you put the nails to your hands and your feet

And the smell of our sacrifices

still fills up my head

There's just a few left at the altar, Lord

all the rest of them fled

And we've cried and we've tried

We've sweat and we've bled

But we don't just need atonement

We need to be raised from the dead

When they took down the cross from that dark hillside

The blood on their hands was the blood from his side

That's the way that it works, That's the way it must be.

You gotta let His blood stain you of you want to get free

If you want to get free

Don't you want to get free?

I think you want to be free.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You Were Never Meant to Carry This – Why Not?

Greetings Dear Reader,

Dear younger me

You are holy

You are righteous

You are one of the redeemed

I think that one of the things we misunderstand is our standing once we follow Christ.  We are no longer under the penalty of our failures.  We no longer are subject to the power of our past if we choose not to be.

We need to keep in mind how the Father sees us.  We are holy.  We are set apart as one of the one who belong to the Father and we cannot be wrested away from him.  He has claimed us as hi own. 

We are righteous.  We may still make wrong choices.  We may still fail but we are seen as righteous by the Father.  He sees our redemption. He sees Christ our advocate claim us as his own.  All the guilt both genuine and false is no longer over us.

We are redeemed.  Currently just the penalty and power of our failures is redeemed.  Eventually we will be redeemed from the presence of failure as well.  We can live righteously through obedience and humility if we choose to.

We are not meant to carry these things any longer.  We are not required to be under the pain and guilt.  We can choose to live as what we are.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You Were Never Meant to Carry This – Crazy Ride

Greetings Dear Reader,

As I ponder the things I carry I recall an assignment from my favorite professor many years ago.  We had to create a graphical representation of our journey with Christ over time. 

Occasionally I recreate this graphic to update my understanding.   It requires a level of honest introspection that is uncomfortable at best.  The ups and downs of this crazy journey are all things that I would attenuate in some way if I could.

I would enhance the good I have done.  I would multiply it.  I would focus on it.  I would also avoid some of the foolish selfish choices that have hurt those around me and hindered my journey.

The problem is that I can do none of that.  I can only learn from the past and apply the lessons to the present.  It reminds me of the lesson in Kung Fu Panda.  Maybe one of the best ever delivered by a cartoon.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift; that is why it is called the present.

If I hope to carry only the things I should I must only live in the moment.  My eye must stay on the destination but always relative to the now.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You Were Never Meant to Carry This – One Step Ahead

Greetings Dear Reader,

The song I used to introduce this series, Dear Younger Me has a line; “If I could tell you everything that I have learned so far then you could be one step ahead of all the painful memories still running thru my head.”

We would all like to be a step ahead of the results of our choices.  We would all like to know the outcome before the choice is made.  We do not.  We have warnings and portents.  We have advice from those who precede us. 

The thing is that we all have painful memories we carry.    We all have failed at things that matter.  We are not meant to carry those things.  We are to learn from them.  We are to grow and become better.

We are never meant to carry our failures beyond the cross.  They are forgiven.  They are paid for by Christ.  We are not able to change the past but we are able to throw off the pain if we adopt the proper perspective.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)