Did you ever have trouble coming up with sins to confess? I
know that I am a sinner (as we all are), but some days, it just seems like I
haven’t done anything. Then I realize
that I am headed for a spiritual smackdown.
Of course, there’s always not caring enough about the poor
or the environment or war to beat myself up over. But somehow
that seems like slacking in self mortification.
What terrible, crummy things have I actually done? Of course, I can always berate myself for not
acknowledging my sin.
I’ve thought about writing a short story about a woman who
is as close to a saint as one can possibly be (No it's not me. I don't even come close.) and therefore so boring
confession-wise that she decides to do something bad so she’ll have some
material. But everything, stealing,
adultery, or even lying is too much trouble.
I think of the old joke “Spank your child once a day. If you
don’t know what he did to deserve it, he will.”
So on slow days I close my confessional prayers with “and forgive me for
all the bad things I don’t know I’ve done and forgive me for not knowing.” And I’m sure God sighs and shakes his head.
Hi Martie, thanks for following me at Recovering Church Lady. I love the way you write and in answer to one of the questions you asked in an earlier blog about growing up thinking we would all be bombed...I had a similar expectation hanging over me, but since I grew up in the church, protestant...I was absolutely sure that Jesus would come back before I had to be a grown-up and work or have kids etc. Never made college plans or imagined getting old. Surprise, surprise, here we are, still.
ReplyDeleteSusie