our senses anchor us to people and places. to feelings and head spaces. we are well aware of some of these effects. others are more subtle. some are completely unknown to our conscious minds. we understand that the bag of coffee beans that we purchased from our favorite coffee shop anchor us to a very particular place, to mornings with friends and associates. the sounds of our favorite songs link us to concerts with friends, days spent in parks, in grass, in love. but there are also anchors that we are not consciously aware of, anchors to deeper places within ourselves. substances that alter the chemistry in our brain take us from the feelings of the now. they filter today’s experiences to feel like yesterday’s. these anchors work in ways that we do not understand. they operate on deeper levels and so are much harder to remove, to avoid. they are not always outright destructive, but their combined effects prevent us from moving forward. these are not simple postcards like the smell of coffee or the sounds from a stereo, these are hands that hold us back, pin us down. some are like temporary suicide, the anchors provide us with the ability to completely remove ourselves from this world. we awake from the sleep, we are returned to the present. but some act as constant bridges. whispers from a different time-space as anchors to real possibilities. they are promises of something better, the doubt of reality of the now, the question of the present. the danger comes from our lack of understanding. our refusing to acknowledge the real danger of these anchors. we see them as temporary things that do not control us, but in reality the anchors are chains to a past, to a time-space wrought with failure and hopelessness. we must learn to live apart from these anchors. to let Christ free us from these chains, at least the destructive ones. This work of loosing and binding is an easy process, one that happens out of our control. but we must let go. we must stop reaching for the frayed ends of the ties that once bound us. once they are gone we will be bound once again, but this time the anchor will be in a future time-space. one that is good. one that is beautiful. the past will no longer hold us back. the present will no longer look, smell, sound or feel like the places we once knew. the present will become more like the place we hope to find one day. but we must first let go of these anchors.
