Coastal Trail, Marin Headlands
The fog was thick this morning, but I could still see a man's silhouette standing at the edge of a distant mountain. I stopped running and watched him, my breath still heavy. I saw his arm swing back, then in a powerful fit, hurl something into the abyss of the ocean. He reached down. And once again, as though trying to throw farther than before, he twisted his body and forcefully launched an object out from the cliff as the grey waves below swallowed it up. I stood and watched him for awhile until he was finished and turned back up the path.
This image burned in my mind the whole day. How we no longer have to carry unnecessary weight and burdens. We can remove the heavy stones from our 'packs' that we've accumulated through the years- the debris and weight we've dragged along with us from broken relationships, unkept promises, shame, guilt- and release them. Hurl them wildly away from us, out of our possession, and surrender them into something wider, deeper, vaster.
"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken."
Psalm 55:22
And then, with lightness in our steps, we can finally be free. Free from our shackled past. Free to gather only what we need and continue on our journey. Free to fully become who we were created to be.