So this is the new year? And I don't feel any different...and I love it! It's finally here!!!! That clean slate day, that start anew day.....a confession booth of sorts. It's the only time all year, at the beginning of the year, when you can erase all those bad deeds, those sins against others, hell all those sins against yourself! Like that time you stole a pencil from the little lottery stand, or that day that you thought bad things about the 85 year old man that cut you off on the freeway. Or....how about this..... That day you cursed the Almighty for taking from you the one person who breathed figurative life into your soul. Today is the day you can wipe it all away with new resolution. A brand new soon to be broken resolution. But that's ok right? Because next year, all because of our need to have a reset button on some aspect of life we will be able to make a new one....no strings attached. Man.....how perfect is that....forget about that commitment you made at the beginning of the year and start over! Hell chalk it up to the human condition.
I compare new years to a confession booth under the idea that it takes the God out of confessing and puts the human in it. If we confess our sins to God there is a real fear involved with what really is a commitment. Fear of sinning again, and fear that we are confessing it with a video game mentality. I can reset this thing. The idea of leaving God out of the equation and being able to walk into a vented pine box and tell some guy through the cross shaped hole that we have trespassed againt God and my neighbor is far too good to pass up. Heck in the process we will know what is going on in the church.....wether we can allow some people to be a member of the congregation...if that stuff I heard at coffee the other day was true about Sally Jones. This guy is a priest he is in direct communication with God. Don't get me wrong...there is nothing wrong with a confession booth if we use it as an accountability factor, where telling another human about that time we stole money from a relative has a binding feeling. But God needs to be the first cog on the sprocket. He is where forgiveness comes from...not that well educated and faithful man in the box.
Yes new years can be a chance to stop drinking, or smoking, or start excersising and quit saying dam when you get upset. Yes it can be a chance to leave what's in the past in the past. It should always be a chance to start over.....just not an excuse to. And a confession booth can be a place to admit to another mortal being that you cursed God without having to say it to God.....but it shouldn't be a place to confess your sin without God..you can't get forgiveness for sinning against someone without asking the person you sinned against. And when we sin it is agianst our creator.....always.
So let's stop lying to ourselves and start living up to these commitments we make to ourselves every year. Don't set your goal out of reach. But don't set a goal that allows you a free pass either. This really is the new year and I don't feel any different....and I wish I did. Oh well maybe next year!
