My tendency in prayer is then to try to put my sin behind me. Acknowledging only that it was an interruption in our relationship, I want to forget it when I come before God. This is a mistake. It is like hiding one’s symptoms from a physician. To go to prayer aware of the shabbiness of my life is a great blessing. I can approach God as the great Healer of life’s wounds, reveal myself in truth, and receive help. If I avoid the issue by keeping up a barrage of words and holy thoughts, I end up exhausted – and God is rendered powerless by my reluctance to be honest. My failures, I must learn, do not separate me from God. What causes the breach is an unwillingness to bring my failures into God’s presence. The greater failure is not realizing that God’s attitude to my sin is pity, not blame.
Michael Casey
Toward God, p. 151
