I have occasionally been ribbed
for wearing a cross around my neck:
"Oh, I see you're displaying
an instrument of human torture.
Nice."
Which got me thinking:
Why do I wear a cross?
The cross links me with suffering,
the one thing we share with all human beings;
my suffering is their suffering;
their suffering is my suffering.
The cross reminds me
that God unites with us in our suffering;
God never leaves us alone in our pain.
The cross reminds me
how vulnerable I truly am.
The cross encourages me to love
even when love brings loss.
The cross reminds me that there is one
who loves so expansively
that he willingly absorbs
the world's anger, ignorance, hostility, loneliness, fear.
Decades ago,
my late sister Nancy,
who, among other things, made jewelry,
crafted for me a silver cross,
at the center of which
she added a silver heart.
And that's it, really:
I wear a cross because...
love.
Text and image © 2019 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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