A Painful Necessity

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked prevail, people go into hiding. No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. (Proverbs 28:12-13)

How often have you tried to cover your tracks? It might have been the small white lie about eating the last piece of pie, or it might have been something bigger like a promise that the check really is in the mail. Sadly, over the years, I have had both of these lies come out of my mouth.

What is it about lies? Don’t they just eat at you, once told? The only way that I have been able to feel better after a lie is to confess. Oh sure, confessing to God in prayer is, frankly, the easy part. It is the confessing to the one harmed that is difficult. The public acknowledgement of our failures is hard, painful and necessary. The asking for forgiveness provides the opportunity to begin again.

I often find Lent hard, painful and necessary. Truth…I am not a fan. The notion that many of my friends do this “giving up” of something, the music which is Alleluia-less, the focus on the days leading up to Jesus death – none of it brings me much joy.

And yet Lent provides great opportunities to reflect, to pause, to grieve, to confess, to pray, to begin again. Lent is the journey we travel, and like all journeys it has moments of discomfort, of struggle and of chance. May you take a chance on confessing anew to ones you have wronged.

Prayer: Forgiving God, we thank you for your endless ability to listen to our sins, to enfold us in your love and to hold us through the painful necessity of confession. We ask you to sustain us through these forty days of Lent, and to provide us reminders of what waits at the end. In your name we confess, Amen.

By Deb Schmidt-Rogers
via Habits of Grace