Before services Sunday we set out hundreds of scratch pads and pens in the seats. I asked people to write down anything that was personally “weighing them down”, including worries, doubts, fears, resentments, sins or shortcomings. At the end of the lesson, I invited them to place their burdensome thoughts into baskets to be brought front and center to where we had brought in a big, commercial shredder! (It was even called the “ShredMaster”).Since I had no idea how many would actually participate, I had written down some of my own stuff on a dozen pieces of paper. It was such a relief for me to physically act out what the Lord does spiritually for us when we give our grief to Him, and He replaces it with grace and peace.
I was even more encouraged when I turned to see several baskets with hundreds of pages of personal pain being brought up to get rid of. You could feel the level of relief rise in the room as we shredded our grief into tinny pieces (we even put a microphone on the shredder). And when I held up the empty baskets, people broke into applause!
I believe that those things are now in HIS hands more than before – and so are we! (I know I am.)
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