Take it up

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. — Mark 1.34 Crucified One, give me grace to enter the wound of the world, to accompany those who suffer, to willingly suffer for others' sake, not for the purpose that I meet you there, which gives me joy, but that I meet them there— not that they may be a means to my joy, but that I be a means to theirs. Help me trust that you are with me on the cross not for my sake but for theirs. Let your love in me overwhelm my fear and transform my selfishness. Give me true self-giving love, which is the only joy. Amen.

~Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes