Translating a World on the Edge

Have you ever tried to live down a lie? A lie has consequences; once it’s there, it’s always there. And here’s the most famous, and deadly, from Genesis:

Now the snake was the most cunning* of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?”

The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’”

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day,* the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

Original sin began with Satan’s lie. It appealed to human pride. But every sin begins with a lie. No matter what the sin is, when we choose what we know is wrong over what we know is right, it may take a while, but the repercussion of that lie will come. It’s also difficult to watch someone we love go through the repercussion of his/her own actions–especially if something they’ve done affects us personally–because our own life may also be affected.

Human beings often lie, but they don’t like being lied to. Have you ever felt tied up in someone else’s lies–maybe even the lie of a person you love? A child, a spouse, a friend? One lie leads to another and another to cover up that lie, and on, and on, until the liar is literally wrapped in his lies, often taking those he loves with him.

The only way to live down a lie is with the Truth. Come clean. Get it all out. Ask for forgiveness of the person we’ve harmed with our lie. Hopefully, that person will forgive. And when we ask God for forgiveness–and we must ask–we don’t have to worry. We will be forgiven. We Catholics call that the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Though it may be humbling, there’s nothing as uplifting and freeing than forcing ourselves to admit the truth.

So, can we live down a lie? Only by admitting it, then facing the consequences with a God who is so madly in love with us that he can make us new!

We cannot get away from our past. It’s always the stepping stone to our future–what happened yesterday genuinely affects what happens in our life today.

From childhood on, the results of past events are indelibly drawn into our actions today, either positively or negatively. I believe the past is a great teacher, perhaps the greatest teacher of all, if we’re open-minded enough to look at it objectively and to consider our mistakes and our triumphs–because our past is filled with both.

There are many of us who whine about our pasts. We blame our present lives on what’s happened to us before. In other words, we haven’t learned how to use our past to create a better life for ourselves. Then there are some of us who may take too much pride in our past–our wonderful childhoods, parents who loved us and were able to provide what we needed. Sometimes the good past is as detrimental to our future as the less than good past . We may become arrogant, thinking we’re superior to others.

We must learn to use whatever we’ve experienced so far in order to further our success in life and our success in becoming the person God intended us to be. Because whatever has happened, God allowed to happen–as a textbook for our future on Earth, and for our eternal life.

So, we don’t want to burn our foundations. We want to use them to build a house, a life, that we can live in–a house with mirrors in which our reflections look happily back at us. A house in which God lovingly lives, side by side with us, no matter our negative or positive past.

When we are afraid, our heartbeat quickens, we might perspire, we might feel an uncomfortable grating in our chest like fingernails scraping across a blackboard.

We might be a soldier, fearful in war. We might be the parent of a very ill child or relative near death. We might be out of money, afraid of bankruptcy. We might be alone, with no one to help us, while a stranger breaks into our home.

OR, we may have done something we know is wrong, and be desperately afraid of the consequences that will surely come.

Fear of consequences is a continually rolling fear within us that doesn’t leave, until we’re caught. For we can never get rid of what we’ve done. OR CAN WE?

Why are we afraid when we’ve done something wrong? Are we afraid of the laws of The Justice Department, or of another’s opinion, or of the judgment of God?

Well–we should be afraid of our civil laws. We should be afraid of ruining ourselves in the eyes of other human beings. BUT we should not be afraid of God.

Civil laws are unforgiving. Another person may, or may not, forgive.

But God, if asked, will ALWAYS forgive us. God is the only entity in which we should NOT be afraid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDClyf9jjTE

Remember when you fell in love, maybe for the first time?

It was all-consuming, all you thought about was that one person. It was self-sacrificing–you’d do anything for him or her, anything it took to keep them in love with you.

You wanted to feel their touch, to smell their smell, to hear their words, and continuously to be in their presence.

You may be surprised to know that this is how God feels about YOU!

The ability to Love is the primary characteristic we share with God. He is honestly and truly madly in love with each one of us. How do we return that love?

Do you remember how it felt when someone you loved turned his or her back on you? It was heart-breaking, nearly tore you apart. You’d given your all, and they had ignored it. You’d reached out for them and they’d shoved you away. You’d run after them, calling for them to come back, but they were too far away to hear you, or care.

Is this how we often respond to God’s Love for us? After all, He has given us free will, and along with that comes the capability to ignore Him.

But isn’t it odd that we do ignore Him? We ignore LOVE personified in Jesus Christ. We ignore His sacrifice for us, his desire to be with us. We ignore His presence in every other human being. We do not see our best lover right there in front of us.