Sin: What a Waste!

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My place of employment just so happens to be about a quarter mile from the city landfill.  I drive by the huge mountain of trash every morning with the smelly aroma permeating the air, especially after a heavy rain.  Seagulls and black birds circle about looking for tasty snacks.  They must love rotting fast food, plastic bottles, trash bags, and the like.  YUCK!

Yesterday, I went to confession for my monthly spiritual cleansing.  The image of  the city landfill came to mind as I examined what I have failed to do as a good Christian.  Sin's garbage and stink can pile up fairly quickly.  Fortunately, my conscience reminded me:  It's time to take the trash out, Jennifer! Don't let all of this filthy sin stagnate like backed-up sewage! Shoo-wee!

After confession, I imagine all of my sins hauled off to heaven's dump! God's garbage trucks pick up the foul-smelling load and dumps it off at an incinerator.  As sin burns up, the rotting stench converts into the pleasant aroma of love and forgiveness!  The ashes remaining are composted material ready to fertilize the soul.

We can quickly allow ours mortal and venial sins to pile up higher and higher to the point our soul is overflowing with rot and decay.  We want to shovel ourselves  out of the mess but think:

"I really don't need to go to confession.  I don't need to the sacraments.  Church is not for me!  I'll just stew in my sins.  I love my porn addiction!  I love getting high!  I love abusing the bottle!  I love being mean, nasty and hateful to others!  I love doing whatever the !@#$ pleases ME!"

Do people enjoy hoarding their sins?  Do they enjoy doing whatever they please even if it causes them pain?  I sometimes wonder.  For me, I think sin is definitely a waste of the good in life!  When we gravitate toward sin, all we do is hurt ourselves.  When we rest on our own laurels instead of relying on God's will, we remain in an infinite garbage pit, drowning in our own misery.  Sin forms layers and gets buried so deep that we forget they even exist.   Sin becomes a taboo three-letter word in our free-thinking do-what-you want society.

As Christians, it's important for us to be aware of our sinful nature.  We can't ignore our faults and failings if we are to better serve our community.  One thing I do before bed every evening is recite the "Act of Contrition" from memory.  This way I let God know that I have sinned against him in ways that I may or may not be fully aware; however, I ask for his pardon and forgiveness.

"Go to your confessor; open your heart to him; display to him all the recesses of your soul; take the advice that he will give you with the utmost humility and simplicity. For God, Who has an infinite love for obedience, frequently renders profitable the counsels we take from others, but especially from those who are the guides of our souls."  

--St. Francis de Sales

-J.