Lenten Photo a Day Challenge - Day 21: Penitential

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:8-9

It's snowing (again) here in Virginia.  I snapped this photo shortly after the snow began to fall and cover a black rubber mat we have on our back deck.  Today's photo challenge word is "penitential" and the mat somehow reminded me of sin - black, complicated, winding through my soul.  The snow falling onto the mat reveals its pathways just as our encounters with God reveal our sin.  If we want a closer relationship with God, we must confess all.  He convicts us and shows us what He wants to heal in us.  Sometimes it's a painful process as we really don't want those dark paths revealed, but it is necessary.  And God is faithful.  He forgives.  He cleanses.  He clothes us in his righteousness.  Isaiah 1:18 teaches, "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord: "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."   As I looked out onto my back deck a short time later, the mat was gone, covered in a blanket of pure, white, dazzling snow.