Thursday, February 7, 2013

Today’s text

Psalm 32:1-5

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
   whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
   and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
   through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
   my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
          Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
   and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,
   and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
          Selah

Reflection

Shall I hide from you, O God? I can no more hide from you than I can hide from myself. Less.

My secrets haunt me in the night, accusing me until I acknowledge who and what I am. Until then, there is no sleep. The hours are lost, and energy flags. Morning comes, and fatigue remains for neither body nor soul can rest in peace without a clear mind and an honest heart.

The heart withers, its strength fades for want of integrity, not for lack of perfection.

Perfection does not belong to the human realm. It is not within our grasp. We can move toward greater dignity and humanity, but purity of heart and completion of what we are as human souls lies beyond earthly existence.

But it is not our imperfection, our betrayals or sins that most haunt the soul or disturb us in the night.

It is our resistance to be honest about who and what we are, our refusals to align our lives and actions with the deepest convictions of our hearts, so that the face we show the world is not the face we see in the mirror.

There may be no greater fear that that of being known, of revealing who we are, what we have done and the contradictions and confusion we feel inside. We are each a mystery to ourselves, never quite understanding why we do or say some of the things that come out of us.

Certainly, sin dwells in our mortal bodies, seeming to have a life of its own that we can little control.

But our sin and wrongdoing, our failures to be the people God intends us to be need not be a burden for us, nor a distress in the night.

Failures and sin, our imperfection and offenses are either a barrier or a bridge.

They are either prevent us from knowing and feeling the grace of God that always welcomes us, or they are the bridge over which we walk into arms of mercy and compassion.

They are dead weight that burdens our souls, or they are wings on which we fly into grace that sets our hearts free to live, to love, to blessedly be ourselves.

The difference is our willingness--or not--to speak our hearts to the heart of Mercy.

The choice is always ours, and our happiness rests on your choice … to hide or to fly into the arms of Mercy.

Pr. David L. Miller