Dragging the Chain

My body hurts, my back hurts, my head hurts.

Face planted in the sand, unable to breathe, feeling the weight of restraint.

Pressed down, shaken together, running over.

Straining to push up, fighting to catch my breath, the weight of it all too much.

I can’t bear it any longer, pressed down, under pressure on all sides.

“To make room for more” you say?

But I am beyond it, beyond capacity, beyond strength, beyond solving another problem, tired and stretched beyond the breaking point.

For I am beyond it! Fear not, for I am your sword, I am your shield, your ever present help in time of trouble. I am your source, I am your gap filler, I am your strength, I am the way. For I bear the scars of the unbearable. I feel the pain of the strain. I know what it is like to be beyond it. Beyond is the place of my habitation.

I need the smooth path Lord. My feet are sore from balancing always on the edge. My patience is worn out. My strength fails.

Where is the smooth path, the path paved my the enemies slingstones that have missed their mark?

I’m tired of the obstacles, the tests that fail, the things that should run smoothly to be full of blockages to the flow.

I’m tired of giving strength to those who are weak, I’m tired of carrying those who are capable of more, I’m tired of dragging people that are dragging their feet.

I’m tired of the palsied, drooping hands, the downtrodden and downcast. I’m fed up with the broken, dictating terms of their restoration. The unfit instructing the teacher how to teacher them. I’m tired of the disrespect, the lame excuses from the lame hearted.

I’m tired of the delay, the weight of the wait.

The rope that binds us, is frayed. I’m tired of bearing the weight.

I want to break free, I want to break the chain, I can bear it no more.

I’m tired of dragging the chain.

I’m here my son! Your end point, is where I start. I inhabit the place beyond you. When you can go no further, I will carry you! You see it now don’t you! I have cut the chain, I have broken the restraint. I am restraining restraint. I am building strength. I am holding back that which holds you back. I am limiting the limit. I am taking the strain. I am restoring the store. I am restraining the strain. For I have cut through. I have taken the short cut. I am already there. Come to the end, come to the end of yourself, start at the end of yourself, join with me at the end, that’s where I want to start. See things from the end, from the place that is beyond you. Get a fresh perspective, come up higher. Rise above that which is beneath you.

Why drag the chain? Why bother with the chain? What is the point of the chain? Why the drag?

For you were meant to carry the chain. The carried chain, signifies release. The purpose of the chain is to bind, is to pull, is to confine, is to connect. Isaiah 61:1 THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the physical and spiritual captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, To bind is to heal that which is broken, to gather the fragments, to bring together that which is apart. To open is to bring release, to bring insight, to bring perspective. 2 Kings 6:16-17 Elisha answered, Fear not; for those with us are more than those with them. Then Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Arise my son, for my glory is revealed upon you. Isaiah 60:1 ARISE from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you—rise to a new life! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!