Little Sins

My family and I recently spent the afternoon on the rocky shore of Lake Michigan. George and Patrick played in the water with John while I sat on the beach, enjoying the view. After a bit, I started playing with the pebbles around me as I listened to the giggles floating in from the water.

Picking through the rocks, I found one that stood out.  It was nearly a perfect rectangle with rounded corners, about an inch long and a half inch wide, sandy brown in color. What made this one particularly unique was the cut it had along the middle, nearly the entire way through.

At first I wondered what could have sliced through it like that. Then, as I looked closer, I saw a grain of sand wedged in the cut. I realized that this grain had been pushed back and forth by the water, and, over a long period of time, had sliced through the middle of the rock.

It struck me that this grain of sand is like so many sins in our lives. So often they seem small and insignificant. Maybe it’s just a little lie to our children. Maybe it’s a gossipy story to a friend about a friend. Maybe it’s something that we don’t even think of as a sin, like worry.

But the more we ignore those “insignificant” sins, the more often we do them. And the more often we do them, the more acceptable they become to us. And slowly, over time, those sins cut deeper and deeper into us, causing more and more damage.

That rock, so badly damaged by such a small grain of sand, is on my nightstand now, as a reminder of the harm something “trivial” can cause. I don’t want to let sin eat away at me. I don’t want to get years down the road and wonder, “how did I get here?” I don't want to broken by something that could have easily been stopped.

Lord, I confess to you that I often put sins in categories, and some even end up in the “little” category. I’m sorry that I ever find separation from you trivial. Thank you that you renew your compassions every morning and that you remove our sins as far as the east is from the west. Thank you that you not only remove them, but you heal us. Let me be washed clean and made whole in you. Amen.