Years ago some friends and I rented snowshoes and drove into A-Basin (Arapahoe Basin) in Colorado. When we arrived we strapped on our snowshoes.
Though we were all about the same size with the same size snowshoe, no one seemed to have any trouble, except me. For some reason I kept dropping through the snow-pack. I kept getting stuck.
The worst was when I had one leg plunged deep into the snow all the way to my groin and the other flat on the ground. While trying to extricate my left leg my right leg plunged through the snow nearly reaching the depth of the other. I howled something impolite as I realized that I was now going to dig myself out of the snow while wearing my snowshoes.
I tried to cover up my feelings of humiliation with angry outbursts. Angry and somewhat resentful I sent my friends ahead. Left alone in my anger, shame and self-pity I sulked.
I was stuck, angry, and felt self-pitying shame.
That was a short-term problem, but it illustrates the challenges we feel when we feel trapped.
Fly Free
Too often we are looking for fun, hope and freedom and find ourselves trapped.
My friend Steve Wiens recommended three prayers for Holy Week:
1. God, reveal where I’m enslaved and set me free.
2. God, reveal where I’m wandering, and help me remember my covenant.
3. God, reveal where I’m enslaved and set me free.
I’ve been trapped and enslaved, and I never want to be again.
“Losing self-control leaves you as helplessas a city without a wall…like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.” 1
#mysilentscream: Let’s invite God in. As our Creator God is most capable to help us fly free.
1 – Proverbs 25:28, CEV & MSG