Casting Stones

I was thinking tonight, what differentiates one person's sin from another...nothing. While we try very hard to justify our sins with qualifiers such as minor, compared to others who have major ones, there really is no difference.

Sin, perhaps more clearly defined than what most of us learned in Sunday School, is simply when we disregard God's blessing in favour of our own desires for something that we believe will suit us better in the moment. It's believing that the promotion of our selves above God with respect to knowing what is best for us will somehow get us farther, faster, and in a more enjoyable fashion. Greed, Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth....which one of us has not been guilty of at least one of what are listed as the 7 Deadly sins, possibly even today, this moment.

Notice, they are not defined as a specific type of greed, lust, envy...just what they are. The deadly part seems so definite, so strong, so overwhelming until you consider that these things bring a slow death in every moment that we engage in them. There is no lightening bolt attached to the actions of these. Slow separation from the fullness of who God is, being activated by us, not Him. It's a choice we make to move away. He stays. He is always still there. Waiting. Ready.

It's a thought I have often, especially when I hear a friend judge another harshly while not considering that they themselves are equally flawed.

And, of course, the good news, for ALL of us, is that He knows, He cares, and He is there to provide a way back to Himself. Our only action, that we must choose, that we must take, is to turn back to His embrace.

All that I am.....I give to You.

My heart rages for that which I cannot hold, touch, or see...but, I can feel, I can feel deeply, the strength of His embrace. All that is within me is urning, urning for the fulfullment of what I cannot express, cannot describe, cannot see clearly, but know with all that I am is real and is my destiny. To dream is only to want more and to know that my life is not complete without it. In my humanity I wonder if I am not strong enough, not brave enough, not good enough to fulfull it, but then I remember that it is not me that has to do the doing, I only have to say "yes" and then be content to "be". To be His hands, to be His feet, to be His voice, to be His touch, to be His smile, to be His embrace, to be His love. The task is beyond me, and so I know that it can only be by letting go of my own desires, fears, and wants, that I will be set free to be who I am, that fulfill all that I was created for. My life is not my own. I have always known this. The things that others strive for, have and cherish, are not mine to have. But, so much more than I can express comes when I go, when I give, when I obey.