“...He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.”Mark 10:17-22
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Eyes slowly open. Feel around for the snooze button ...again. Roll out of bed, breathe in deep, sigh, feet on floor, morning. New day. From one to the following, every day a new day. Grace. The chance to wake to a blank slate, another try. Restart.
Did you wake embracing grace, ready to start new, unbound to all behind or roll out of bed already tired, still reeling from yesterday or last week, behind pace, day running steps ahead from the start?
All of us continue into each day heavily influenced and shaped by our past. What we value, our ethos and all that makes us and learned and accepted habits, we hold to them and honor them with how we live. We find our way and navigate through life maintaining our narrative, recorded in days done and extending ahead. Your narrative. Mine. All of us live in routine.
We nurture what we know, see the world and situations similarly each day as we look into the mirror each morning and see the same person. Little change, only slight variances, but for the most part, no deviations. Safely, we maintain what has carried us this far. But to what end? The gaze telling, always hinting at more buried in the forming lines on our faces and in our lives.
He looked into future eyes seeing the greatest deviance conspiring against all he held high. The dry wind blowing between them, all history hanging. Eternity inviting. A man of wealth and worth and noble accomplishment, owning more than enough, but belonging to an emptying story lacking life meaningful. Looking into the mirror, seeing the same man as the day before holding to what he had and all that he held, fading into the narrative, his, owning him. Jesus’ reply welcoming him to deviate from his story holding, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me."
The man heavy in heart, fading into the narrative, walked away bound to a path of the past, locked on course always lacking. “He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.”
Your story is not yet complete. That needs to hold high, defining value in your story unfolding. Blossoming in each day is the opportunity to write your narrative based upon how you choose to live now. History behind you supporting, not defining. Define yourself by the words you write today.