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.

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