Secret Sins

Unbelievable, really, what some of us believe.

When I was a child, we had “bins” in our kitchen that contained flour and sugar. As a child, I had little use for either of them. So I thought.

One of the great memories of my childhood was the tent my Dad erected in the back yard. It was a place where many of the children in our neighborhood would gather to talk and hide, share secrets and snacks, and “get away from our parents’ watching eyes and listening ears.”

Sunday afternoon family “get-togethers” were a regular occurrence. Once, after a short discussion about the “fun” of smoking, we concluded that we were old enough to smoke. If it was OK for our parents to smoke, it was OK for us, too. There was only one problem: we had no tobacco, no paper to roll the tobacco in, and no matches. No problem.

I went inside for some matches and newspaper while a friend went into our garden and collected some “silk” from several ears of corn. That would serve as our tobacco. So, we carefully rolled the silk into the paper to make cigarettes. Everything was going well.

I decided to be the first to “light-up.” When I tried to inhale, the paper burst into flames and singed my eyebrows. “Teeman” had the solution: “Run into the kitchen and rub sugar over your eyebrows.” That, he promised, would hide the “evidence” – the singed eyebrows of my “accident.”

Unfortunately, my Dad came into the kitchen - and there I was: head deep inside the sugar bin. And, of course, nothing I said made sense or hid the truth.

“A man’s ways are in full view of the Lord.” (As well as others!)

Prayer: It’s difficult, if not impossible Lord, to hide anything from anybody, and certainly not possible to hide anything from You. May we live with nothing to hide. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today: Proverbs 5:21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.