Confessing isn’t so bad. You get used to it.
What I will never get used to is saying these words every day, as has been my practice during Lent:
Grant, O Merciful Father, for [Christ’s] sake,
that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
to the glory of your holy Name.
Those words from the daily confession in the Book of Common Prayer, are some of the most humbling words you can say.
When you say them, you are committing to following in the footsteps of so many who have heard Jesus’ call to “go and sin no more.”
And then you say the same words the next day, and realize that you didn’t hold up.
Then you say them the day after that and fail just as well.
Every day, a failure. A failure, yes, but also a hopeful failure.
Every day we fail to heed this commitment, especially during Lent, we are reminded that Christ did heed the commitment. As we fail, we remember that he did not. As we lose our battles, we remember that he can give us victory, and that he has already won the war.
It is in saying something we know we cannot accomplish for any lengthy amount of time that we become more and more humble. And in our humility we become more and more indebted to the rich mercy and joyful grace of Christ. It is for his sake, after all.