I have sin, things that I hide and bury deep down, things
that I do not want anyone to see, sins that even-though forgiven, are shrouded
in shame and regret.
But the one that I overlook the most is the one that I am encouraged
to flaunt the most. I come from humble beginnings, rising up from literally
nothing, and even before I attained the age of majority I set out to amass a
string of accomplishments that would impress the most learned, brave, or adventurous.
My sin is Pride, pride in my accomplishments; baubles and medals to justify my acceptance,
trinkets to say “I’m good enough, not some white trash boy from nowhere Oklahoma.”
Many people bury their sins, push them
so far down that they bubble up in other putrid ways, but mine, I put in a
shadow box. I even have an expensive medal that says to the world that I am a good Christian;
even my faith is tinged with pride.
I like to mediate on the idea that when I approach my creator,
when I die and see that white light and start ascending though that dark tunnel,
I am stripping off my military medals, my shoulder boards, my rings, all my
trappings, and haphazardly discard them to the side. That kings have their eyes
so fixed on the light that they are removing their crowns and dropping them in
the ditch, that professors are absently dropping their tams and trod them under
foot, that the pectoral crosses of bishops are strewn to the wayside.
We are divesting ourselves of all metals, all accomplishments,
all our arrogance and are unworthily approaching our true master, to transition
from this realm to the next we must first be purified; purified though putrefaction
that is. Divested of our mortal coil, divested of our golden baubles, crowns
and all pride, stripped away to our purest form and prepared for the ultimate
rite of passage, joining with angels and archangels and with all the company of
heaven, we proclaim His great and glorious name, forever praising Him and
saying. “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are
full of Your glory, Hosanna in the highest.”
The Streets of Glory are paved with gold
The ditch along the road to paradise is lined with treasures
And the road to hell is paved with good intentions
