An old rusty chain keeps us bound to sin, the past, and our old recycled thoughts. At a glance, we might think it is strong. Unbreakable. It has been there for so long, generation after generation, we might concede it is a chain we cannot break.

If it could be broken, we reason, someone would have broken it already.

Like the tattered elephant groomed for a life in the circus, we are broken. We have lost faith that we could ever break what binds us even if the chain were now only a small cord on a flimsy little stake in the ground.

We have grown stronger, wiser, and have increased in compassion, yet, we can never be free as long as the chain remains. We turn to others, hopeful they will break through what keeps us in bondage. But they do not. They cannot. If only they could free themselves, we think, then we too could free ourselves.

And what binds us remains.

Drugs, alcohol, attempted suicide, child abuse, shame, guilt, depression, it all remains intact because no one will take the...