Mom and Dad were seated at the dining room table of our apartment in Greenwich, Connecticut. I could tell by their voices and the looks on their faces that this was a serious conversation. Wearing my footy P.J.’s with the snap flap, hair all tussled and dragging my love worn green rabbit, I shuffled in and climbed up on one of the chairs. “What are you talking about?” I was concerned, for I remembered another time when my parents looked like this. I was about five, and never really knew Grandpa Joe, but I knew Mom loved him and he had died at Christmastime. “Daddy’s going to be transferred.” Mom gently said. “We’re going to move to Wisconsin—you know, where Grandma is.” “Wisconsin? Oh.” That’s what came out of my mouth, but in my mind I hoped we wouldn’t die, too.

Summer was on its way. I had my fifth birthday. Long Island Sound, New York—the big city I visited on Saturday trips with Dad to his office, would become a part of my past. “Can I bring my things with me?” For I was already considering this idea of moving ... following my parents to a new place. Would there be room for everything I held dear? Curiously, even at a very young age I recall thinking carefully about what I truly needed to bring with me—and what I could leave behind. Within hours of the news of our upcoming move, I emerged from my bedroom with several of my small suitcases stuffed. “Mary, what have you got there?” My dad asked as he laid down what he was reading and leaned forward. Never one for dollies, I opened my carefully packed bags proudly displaying most of my treasured collection of fuzzy rabbits. “See? Here’s Old Bunny, New Bunny, Green Bunny and Blue Bunny.” With a bit of a lump in my throat I explained, “I couldn’t fit in everything—so a few will have to be left behind.” With a warm and reassuring tone, Dad assured me, “Mary, this will all be okay. Okay? Now let’s get back to bed.”

Jesus talks about losing one’s life—denying oneself, taking up, picking up Christ’s cross to follow Him. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel, will save it” (Mark 8: 34-35 NRSV). In Luke, Jesus uses the words, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14: 27 NRSV).

This command of Christ is more about putting down than picking up. How can we pick up our portion of the beam of wood on which our Lord was crucified when our hands are full? Taking up the cross—enlisting in discipleship—demands that one is free to follow, to put down, pick up and go. We cannot be free to follow Christ when we are loaded down with the stuff of this world. It is only after we lay down the burdens and cares of this world, that we are free to take up the cause of Him whose “Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 NRSV).

Summer became fall and Christmas came to my new home in Wisconsin—and a plush pink bunny was waiting under the tree. The pain of leaving and losing was replaced by something bright and new.

What fills your heart, leaving no room for Jesus? What binds up your hands so they are not free to serve? Put it down. Anything God asks you to give up will be replaced by something of far greater worth—the saving of your life. Pick up Christ’s cross and follow in freedom and in faith. In Jesus name, Amen.

Copyright © 2009 by Waters of Life^TM Ministry for Women, Inc., www.wolministry.com