Lent: Day 16 – I couldn’t wait to get out of my parents home. I felt shackled, bound and unable to move about freely. Worst of all I felt as if I was forced to do things certain other people didn’t have to do, like cook, clean and wash dishes. When I left for good I vowed I’d never go back and I never did. Although I wasn’t wild and uncontrollable, I wasn’t necessarily free. Even when we live alone we find our selves bound to something if not some one. It’s not all bad. However when the bonds that we’ve adhered to begin to adversely affect the self or others, the person, thing, or both to which we are bound becomes an overwhelming problem. At times, our bonds are so overwhelming in fact we lose touch with mercy, we lose touch with grace and finally we lose touch with self. The good news is that even when we’ve lost touch with the self, grace and mercy does not lose touch with us because God knows us from within. When Jesus met a man lost in self and encumbered with legions, mercy and grace was the first order of the day. Whether we are bound by choice or bound by force, good or bad the consequences always have their way. However, the day we commit to be bound by Christ is the day we will begin to serve freely.

Mark 5:1-20 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain;⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.