Good morning in this Christmas season of joy and giving! Every year I read Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and every year I see old Scrooge confronted with his imaginary chain in the form of Jacob Marley's ghost clinking around in his own chain. (You have labored on it since. 'Tis a ponderous chain!) This morning, I wonder how long my chain is today. Have I labored on it enough, or should I add a few more heavy links? You see, I read a book that listed the price on our bodies of an unforgiving life. A doctor listed the symptoms, and I found my own problems listed there.
Traumatic events, either physical or emotional, can forge a prison of emotional and physical symptoms. However, what if in not forgiving I was able to forge a chain out of those prison bars that left me more confined than the original condition? Jesus healed the injuries, broke open the prison bars, only to find me confined by my own chain forged patiently over the years out shame and guilt. As of this morning this is but a working theory, but could it be the answer?
The truth revealed during prayerful introspection may be painful. When Marley's ghost displayed its chains there were no simple latches but heavy locks without keys along the length of cash boxes and ledgers. When we forge our own chain, we do not add in quick-release latches or leave spaces in the forged links for easy removal. As a welder will tell you, if you apply a hot cutting torch to one end of a metal link the heat will be transmitted quickly to the other end. Getting out of this chain may be painful! I trust that Jesus will lead me out of this thing as gently as possible.
Bucky
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