Reflection for the month - September

It’s not my fault!

If something goes wrong then someone must be to blame. From childhood we have surely realised that it is only by being good that we, in human terms, are accepted – and loved. When we break the rules and are bad we believe that we are unacceptable, unloved, alone, and so it is natural to try and hide our misdemeanours from others and indeed from ourselves, ‘It’s not my fault!’. Someone else is to blame.  Eve blamed the Serpent, Adam blamed Eve and so it has gone on since time immemorial. Those who believe that the love of others is conditional upon their being ‘good’ may well feel lost, and have no incentive to try and understand where they have gone wrong, and take responsibility for putting themselves right.

Jesus has shown us that the love of God is unconditional and that there is no limit to His mercy, but he also said (Matthew 15.11) that we alone are responsible for our own wrongdoing, there is no-one else who can be blamed. We cannot accuse others and rail against them or our circumstances of life. We have to take the responsibility for what we do on ourselves. Thankfully, we have Jesus, to whom we can pray. He is with us willing to bring us to the realisation of the qualities we do have always to be good, to care for others as we would wish to be cared for, and to show and share throughout our lives the unconditional love that God freely bestows on us all.
                                                                                                                                         David Peacock