The Chains of Jacob Marley

This blog is written by Mark Morris.

It looks like we have made it through another holiday season. The lights and the decorations are coming down, and we have put them away in their boxes and totes for another year.

Mark Morris, Author

The Christmas season is filled with all types of traditions. Special tree ornaments, and those once a year candy and dishes, songs which have become a part of our culture are now no longer exciting but they will be again after next Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to watch the movie the “Christmas Carol”,written by Charles Dickens. This year, I found a black-and-white version that was titled “Scrooge”.

A scene that caught my attention was when the ghost of Jacob Marley appeared to Scrooge. Jacob Marley had long chains dragging behind him. They rattled like the cans behind the car of a newlywed couple.

Jacob Marley told Scrooge, “we forge the chains that we wear in life”. I realize all of this was from the imagination of Charles Dickens. However, it did give me pause. I realize the reality that we have a tendency to carry with us the reminder of the effects of choices and events from our youth all the way up through our present age.

How much of our actions and reactions are the result of circumstances from the past?

We attach them to our memories and we take them with us throughout our life.

We measure success and failures by the things we have attached to our lives.

Bad choices, failed relationships, and rejections from those we trusted and loved all cause links in this self forged chain to be a part of our life.

In the movie “Scrooge”, Marley told Ebeneezer Scrooge that to lighten the weight of the chains, he should do better in life now.

How wonderful it is to go through this period of our life that we call the sage age without the chains of past mistakes on us.

Jesus promised us that His grace is sufficient for all we go through in this life.

Perhaps we need His grace at this age to help us unburden ourselves from past mistakes and circumstances. Forgiveness for others is also essential for the unburdening of the chains that we have forged. Forgiving yourself for your mistakes in life is also essential. We should allow God‘s grace to carry us so that we can live a chain free life.

As you go into a new year, please don’t allow the memories and the mistakes of your past to slow you down.