Wednesday, October 12, 2011

"Confession"

Miller writes that there are two times you confess your sin: before or after you get caught.  The first is true confession, the second is merely owning up.

Do we ever confess before being caught?  Rarely in our society.  Maybe because I am an attorney and have worked in the legal field for almost two decades.  My clients only "confess" when the evidence against them is overwhelming. 

But outside of a legal setting, there are different kinds of confession.  Before God.  Within our family. 

A few days ago we went out to dinner for my birthday.  My daughter Catherine made me a pretend birthday cake with two pieces of bread, some butter and some jelly. She was basically playing with her food.  She would not eat it, as she has a history of refusing to eat it.  She wanted me to eat it.  She kept handing it to me and saying "Here's your birthday cake, Mommy."   

The problem is I really don't like jelly and I had my own food on my plate which I wanted to eat.  I didn't want to eat her so-called birthday cake.  So, I told her no, I would not eat it.  Thankfully, she didn't seem to react to my refusal to eat it.

But later that night, after she went to bed, I began to feel guilty. Her heart was in the right place; Catherine was making a gift for me out of love for me, to celebrate by birthday.  Yet, I shot down her efforts.  I feel so bad now.  If I continue to act so ungrateful, will I destroy her loving, giving spirit?  Why did I model such ungrateful behavior? 

In retrospect, I was clearly wrong.  I should have acted grateful and eaten at least some of the cake. 

So how do I correct the situation?  Obviously I can change my behavior for future similar incidents.  But, should I confess to her what I did wrong at this point?  Catherine fortunately has a short memory for situations like this.  Would bringing the issue back up now upset her? 

This post is inspired by the book Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller.

No comments: