My friend and I dig into our desserts with spoons in our hands and smiles on our faces. We catch up on our week in between comments that start with, “Yummmmm.”
I tell her, “I’m still struggling with the guilt thing. I feel like I’ve made progress but it tries to get me now and then.” Guilt seems to be my nemesis. It jumps out at me from dark corners of my life to announce that I’m not doing enough, being enough, blah-blah.
{Now the Holy Spirit does convict us but that’s affirming and life giving and not what we’re talking about here.}
I ask her, “What do you replace guilt with instead?”
She answers with one simple word: Gratitude.
Huh.
Not what I expected. I was thinking more along the lines of try harder.
But the more I ponder it in the coming days and weeks, the more it begins making sense to me.
I go out to eat with my husband and feel guilty for spending the money {even though it’s a special occasion and the meal fits our budget}.
That guilt keeps me from saying…
“Thank you, God, for my husband.
Thank you, God, for this delicious food and those who prepared it.
Thank you, God, for the blessing of this amount that we can set aside for celebrations.”
The next day I make a list of all the things I feel guilty about and sure enough, each one offers ways to be grateful instead.
{Are any of you now feeling guilty like I am about not being more grateful? Ha! Guilt is so sneaky!}
In this season of celebration let’s receive the gift we’ve already been given: a guilt free life…
and then give thanks to the One who has given us so many blessings along with it.
