Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Psalm 51:1
I jump back from the grease splatter a moment too late. At first I think I have escaped being soiled, but then I see the slow stain soaking into my shirt. With deliberation, I reach for a paper towel and carefully blot at the rust-red smear. The shirt is new, of course, and with resignation I suppose it is ruined. Moments later I am running it under hot water, still hopeful that disaster can be averted.
And am I, too, ruined? What sin and sorrow have I soaked up in the wilderness? What offenses have gone unnoticed? Unrepented?
There is nothing to do but to spread my soul before the Holy One, to offer myself up, to open myself to the searing love of the path ahead, and expose my very being to mercy.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2014
Image credit: picsfive / 123RF Stock Photo
