Easter part 1

Isaiah 59:12

Our sins are piled up before God and they testify against us.

Yes, we know what sinners we are.

This year was our second annual "confession cross" as a part of our Easter Advent. The idea is to write out a sin (or sins) each day, ask for forgiveness if that wasn't already done, and then tape them (eventually) into the form of a cross. Well, we did NOT do this everyday and it wasn't as anticipated as doing our Thanksgiving Tree (where we write what we're thankful for each day) b/c let's face it- who wants to remember how rotten they were that day?

But the effect is still the same. Jaedon was just reading over the cross this morning and commented "Wow. That's a lot of sins for one family." True. A lot of ugliness. Thankfully, today we also were able to cover over our sins with the only covering possible- red crepe paper (resembling Jesus' blood of course ;-)

Last weekend we were able to travel to the Creation Museum. They had some very intricate displays that were neat to walk through and see starting with the Garden of Eden- this beautiful and perfect world created by God (including dinosaurs which my kids LOVED!)

Then, as you keep on walking you saw the serpent, the choice. From there the displays turned ugly- scary even.

One rather disturbing but powerful display was one of Adam and Eve dressed in animal skins with the skinned animals lying in front of them on the alter. Brad brought up this point- they tried to cover themselves first but it wasn't good enough.

Genesis 3:7 "At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Perhaps this isn't a "wow-brand new information, Amber!" point to make but it struck me anew.

Aren't we still just like that?

We try all the time to cover ourselves- to hide our "nakedness" : our pride, selfishness, addictions, our lack of self control, impatience, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness or our disbelief. And if we think we don't have a "nakedness" problem we're probably covering ourselves with LAYERS of our own making. God wasn't fooled by their attempts and he's not fooled by mine either. Even the attempts of our own confession cross is skewed. We aren't oh-so-eager to be reminded of our failings each day because we hear that sssssneaky voice say things to us like "oh, you're not THAT bad!" or "It's just one teeny thing- no need to ask forgiveness for something that small!" Oh yes! The serpent still lurks. And sin is still ugly.

I hope that as I enter this weekend of reflection and celebration I can strip off my own coverings for all my (many) nakednesses (is that a word?!) and be reminded once again the cost of my once and for all paid-for clothing.