May 8, 2024 I didn’t realize I was doing it. I was driving in my itty bitty SUV as I ran errands. I was preparing to make stops at both the grocery store and the pharmacy. Sitting at a traffic light right next to the store where I planned to get groceries, I noticed it. Maybe it was because I was thinking about a stressful situation, maybe there was no reason for it, but I had my forehead sort of scrunched up and the area around my eyes felt tight or strained. If the person in the car next to me at the light had looked at me, I’m pretty they would’ve thought I was grumpy in that moment. When I noticed the tightness and tension, I focused on relaxing it. The relief was almost instant. I hadn’t even noticed that my face was uncomfortable in that position until it was no longer in that position. It made me think of my relationship with sin and confession. I’m really good at sinning. When I’m sinning or after, I don’t often sit and reflect on my sins’ impact. In fact, I hardly notice it, if I at all. Preparing for confession and partaking of the sacrament gives me an opportunity to pause and look at my sins and my sinfulness, to feel the weight of my sin, and to reflect on how my sins and sinfulness hurt both me and my relationship with God. I almost always feel lighter after acknowledging my sins and my sinfulness, giving them to the Lord, and receiving his forgiveness. Even when I didn’t realize the heaviness was there before. |
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