How many crosses do you see in this photo? I don’t know this plant’s name, but what you see are the stems that are left after the purple blossoms have fallen off. I saw them last week on a hike into the Glacier Wilderness in Washington state.
You could spend a long time counting all the pink stems that in our eye’s vision are crossing over one another.
“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,” said Jesus in Luke 14:27 on his way to Jerusalem and a real cross of death.
The bared pink stems cross and recross, and it’s a wild stretch to imply that Jesus’ statement and this spent plant could possibly have any shred of something in common. And yet…
Lutheran Christians, after baptism, are traced with the sign of Jesus’ cross on their foreheads with these words: “You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with cross of Christ forever.”
If we look out at the gathering of baptized people on any given Sunday, we could picture them them following Christ’s path to the cross in many different ways. One is compassionately caring for aging parents. Another is concerned about the health of neglected children in the local school. Still another continues in dialogue with folks who have prickly responses to any overture of understanding. The act of laying down our lives for others in the name of Christ’s love can take its cross shape in a myriad of ways, a collection of cross upon cross.
It is impossible, perhaps, and unnecessary to sort out all the ways that we bear the cross of Christ’s self-giving love into our worlds. Yet I find it hopeful to note that the effect of, not one, but all of our cross-shaped lives together might be a living witness of Christ to someone who passes by on the trail.
Can people see the loving cross of Christ in you?
Trix's Mix says
This lovely plant brought you inspiration for a thought provoking post Elaine! Sacrificial love actually is a miracle and we do not see much of that in this self-centred world anymore! Reminds me of this verse:
‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ – John 15-13
Elaine Dent says
And a good verse that is!!!