Amending

Amend my life…”
Act of Contrition

When we talk about getting right with God, when we talk about confessing our sins and then doing better, we use the phrase “amend our lives.” I like this phrase because it emphasizes that no matter what we have done, we are trying to put it right. Our whole being is a gift from God and God created it good. We screw up; we damage part of our lives, so we amend it. The whole is still good. The amending can make it better and stronger. Amending can be thought of as pruning. Our country’s constitution was good. The various amendments that we have accepted have made it better. In this instance we can look at our lives as we live it each day. As we slip into a bad habit or two, we seem to do them on a regular basis maybe even each day. We don’t want to change our whole life but just correct the things that have gone awry. We amend, we don’t replace, we don’t condemn. The ability to amend our lives is truly one of the gifts that God gave us to help us love Him as humans who don’t love 100% all of the time.