dailydatewithgod

When I learned to speak and read the Spanish language I was fascinated that the word they had for “without” was “sin”.  It made me think of how to sin (English word) would mean something occurring without God.  I later learned that the word “sin” as used in scripture actually means “to miss the mark”.  Most people I am sure never heard this definition of sin.  Most commonly the word means evil or having done wrong against God.  Forgiveness of sins is one of the major elements of the Christian faith.  The whole point of the death and resurrection of Christ was to forgive our transgressions.  Those transgressions of course, cover the gamut from lying to murder.  I know a lot of people who spend their lives walking in shame over their sins.  To them any wrongdoing makes them evil. For that to be true would mean that we did not come from God. What we do does not change who we are at our core.   Jesus taught to love the sinner and hate the sin.  If sinning is really about being off-course, about doing something without God then I have to recognize the multitude of ways that I sin.  I envision life as the experience of attempting with each step to realign ourselves with God.  This is what creates a the burning in our hearts that the mystics speak of.  St. Augustine of Hippo said that our “hearts our restless until they rest in Him.”  We long to be reconnected fully with our Creator.  I believe this our ultimate purpose in life.  To return to love.  It only makes sense that our life is a series of attempting to do so and invariably missing the mark.  The important thing, however is not to focus on how we keep missing the mark but that we keep trying.  To me the definition of hopelessness is one who has given up that God is anywhere within them.  Sometimes the light of God is so dim we cannot see it. We need others around us to remind us that it is still there and that we can connect with them to help brighten the flame until ours becomes stronger.  This is what community is.  What we focus on expands, so if I spend my focus on the number of times that I miss the mark (a.k.a.- the number of times I sin), that is all that I see.  But if I practice forgiveness with myself, recognize without judgment that I am simply living out my spiritual quest by attempting to be on the mark, then I have the strength to move forward.  Depending on how far off the mark I get, I need more of God to be involved.  The beauty is that God wants to be involved in all of it.  God longs to be as close to me, if not closer, than I long to be with God.  God is not surprised when we miss the mark, it is expected.  God just wants to see that we are striving to get back on the mark, to be in alignment with who we really are.  My prayer for you today is that you look upon yourself with compassion and recognize that missing the mark, attempting something without God, is par for the course and have the courage to call upon your Creator to guide you back and be on the mark.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

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