need increasing itself by rounds

A few thoughts, today:

Sin, like a stone dropped into water, and the way it ripples through our lives. Not just my life, but how I internalize sin and pass it like a baton, passing it to the next person I encounter. Maybe it's not even the sin, but the hurt, the bruise of it that I pay forward, letting my pain pollute God's good works in me. The stink of sin is still on my breath when I'm trying to speak words of Truth.

This morning I woke up and looked out the window. A flock of birds was twirling around, separating and rejoining and twisting in a mob, some kind of dance with the wind. They stayed in my field of view for several minutes while I tried to figure out why they were flying: were they going somewhere, or getting ready to? It was apparent, though, that they were just flying to fly, for the sheer joy that was flight, what God created them for. And we were created to worship. Why, then, is it so hard to clear my mind some days and just worship? There should be no task, no need to set aside worries or questions. I can learn from the simplicity of flight. Worship is no complicated thing; breath, truth.

Sanctification and the way it's like the title of a poem I read once: need increasing itself by rounds. (It's below, if you're curious.) The text itself is not particularly relevant, but the title. We need grace, and God grants it to us, and because we have received his grace, we see ever more magnified our need and our separation from Him. I see this in myself with my selfishness and self-centeredness, that every time I seem to take a step forward, my heart takes two steps back and sees a little more of the big picture of my sin. It's really a blessing, this revelation, this need; all needs met in Him who gave himself up for us.