When I first saw the reading for today, the day after Ash Wednesday, my initial thought was: Well, I guess there’s no easing into Lent.

The message from Luke is short and to the point. We must take up the cross daily. Daily. Not just during Lent, but take up the cross daily to follow Jesus. Do I make that decision every day? I am not sure that I do. I pray and reflect, but I don’t think I say to God and to myself: I am taking up the cross this day and following Jesus.

Why is that important? God gets that I’m trying, doing my best, right? God does. But this is for me. The last two lines of the Gospel reading made that more clear to me: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?"  What I need to remember is that I make decisions large and small every day where I might gain the world yet lose or forfeit myself. It’s not just in the big things where I can lose myself, it’s in those little things. When I think I’ve gained the upper hand by making myself feel better at the expense of someone else. When I could help out a colleague or a friend or a family member, but I’m too busy. I lose those little pieces of myself. And what have I gained? That’s what can happen when I don’t make the decision to take up the cross every day.

For today, for Lent, for every day, let me remember to take up the cross and follow Jesus.