All is Forgiven

Last week I had an interesting thought as I was sitting in the dentist chair getting a cleaning.

One of the questions asked before they begin is, “how often do you brush your teeth and how often do you floss?”

The thought that came to me was, no matter what I say, none, one, or five times a day, the dentist once he starts cleaning will know. It was an odd realization because I have known people who have blatantly fibbed and truth be told I have too, when I was younger, on how often I cleaned and floss my teeth.

But my odd thought had not stopped there, as we get ready for the upcoming Palm Sunday, and Holy Week, I began to think of how often I have tried to hide or justify my wrong or sinful deeds.

The thing is God knows all that I have done wrong, and I can never hide it from Him, no matter how hard I try.

No matter how hard we try to make others think we are great and perfect, which none of us are, God doesn’t make me feel horrible (I do that on my own) about my sins but instead forgives me.

And thankfully, my dentist does something similar.

Instead of accusing me of lying or making me feel like I’m a horrible person for not flossing every day, he simply says afterwards, “Go, brush and floss daily.”

Published in Delta Optimist March 22 2013