Baggage of the Past

Why do I drag my past unkindnesses, my failures,

my selfish deeds, my regrets behind me, trailing

like Medusa’s venomous snakes ready to poison

any goodness I have acquired, any virtue I

have practiced? Misfortune takes precedence,

strangling my assets, swallowing any qualities

that might alleviate my slips and slides.

I hang on to the vices in my life, enlarging them

into elephantine proportions, thinking all who

pass by cannot miss my sullied character.

Yet Jesus said, “Although your sins be red

as scarlet I will wash you clean as snow.”

Lord, strip away the deadly toxins

that cloud my days, eradicate them forever –

may your glory overshadow my shortcomings,
and my righteousness shine through like the sun.