Glorious Mud

Confession. We need it. And we hate it.  We hate to do it because it forces us to admit things about ourselves we don't want to admit. But we all have hidden things in our lives that sit in the dark and gnaw on our souls - things that scratch at locked doors of our conscience, aching to get out... things like weaknesses, shameful appetites, betrayals, besetting sins - they almost demand that we put them into words and share them. But to do so feels often like a form of death in itself. And this isn't a religious impulse. It's a human one. We all feel the need. All you have to do is look at the crazy popularity of a site like postsecret . I have to admit that I like postsecret. I find it intriguing and, at times, disturbing. I have sympathy for some confessions and repulsion at others. And there have been some wonderful stories that have emerged of people actually making real, personal, human connections with others through the site when someone recognizes their ...

Came across this quote today: The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities. - Sophocles I have talked to a lot of people lately who would agree with this statement. People like Chopra, for example. But the challenge comes not in recognizing our responsibility in our problems as much in how our world view impacts the way we process that culpability. As a follower of Christ, I am led to see sin as the source of all that is wrong in the world. When sin was introduced into the world, God's Shalom was disrupted and mankind lost balance with their relationship with God, with each other, with themselves, and with the created order. What used to be characterized by peace and harmony (balance) was now broken and characterized by disharmony, mistrust, distance, and shame. This helps explain everything from Hurricane Katrina to my childhood fist fights with my brother. But Sophocles is right - it isn't enough to see that all our problems are...