Exaggerated repentance is a reverse form of pride. We are designed to acknowledge our imbalances, adjust for them and MOVE ON. Accepting forgiveness in every moment in which it is required, letting go of yesterday's failures, we move forward in healing... Our processes of healing will show us failures; we must see where we are going before we can adjust the course. However, the healing process does not define us! It is just the manner in which we awaken. It is vital to recognize the false pride of the sinner for what it is: a cop-out, an escape mechanism through which the fearful avoid responsibility -- and, as they eventually find out, salvation.
Somehow, I must sit to listen.
Standing implies a readiness for action, for the executing of the will.
To hear You I must sit down and calm down.
The magpie mind chatters.
It doesn't know about stopping.
How helpless I feel in its automatic firing, its busy babbling.
It is impossible to hear You as long as I am full of sound.
I turn this helpless prayer toward You.
... slowly unknowing everything, becoming dark,
becoming yielding ... just sitting.