Our Personal Crosses

An illness, a handicap, poverty, loss, betrayal, loneliness... My Lord, the list could go on. Each of us has his own cross to bear, for some there is more than one. As we see it being handed to us, there are several things we could do; we could throw it aside somehow and step over or around it, we could look for someone else to take it for us. That may be our first instinct~ try to avoid it somehow. But doing this makes the cross heavier and more difficult to bear.
If we follow You and do as You ask, picking up that personal cross You so lovingly hand us with Your own nail scarred hands, our faith will lead us, the cross will become one we are able to actually embrace because we see that it leads to You.
My Lord God, You embraced the ultimate cross~ the one we could never bear because of our sinfulness. You bore Your cross for love of the Father and each of us. You died on the cross for us; You ask us to embrace our cross and die to ourselves and the ways of this world.
You have made it clear that there is no other way to come to You. Everything else, even our very selves must not be put before You.
Our own personal cross; You knew, Lord, the ones that each of us would need to carry~ would be able to carry, in order to follow You to the Father. May our crosses lead us home.