Picking up the cross and following after Jesus is a daily challenge. We’re constantly beset with trials big and small, struggling to accept those things we cannot change. But accept them we can…if we realize that are united to Jesus when we face them. He only tells us to carry our crosses because it is He who carries us. Sometimes I don’t readily accept my situation and my need for dependence on others. But even then, I accept my initial non-acceptance.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.
Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.

-Romans 12

St. Paul tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice…everything we go through every day of our earthly existence to be offered to God—and God will consider it as an act of worship toward Him! Sacrifice is always for our good and for the good of others in addition to glorifying God. So, as I end this post, let us remember the people of the Gulf Coast and those who’ve already suffered the effects of the hurricane by offering our crosses for them.