No Gators in this Pond

There is a story of an elderly lady who lived in the Big Cypress Swamp in South Florida.  She lived in an old shack by a small pond and each day she went to the pond to draw water.  In the pond there lived an alligator.  It lived there for years and she knew about him.  The gator seemed tame to her.  In fact they had a type of understanding, she didn't bother the gator and the gator did not bother her. At least this is how the woman saw it.


One day she was drawing water from the pond and the hidden gator plunged up, grabbing the old woman's hand in its jaws. She tried to pull her hand out, but the gator just ripped it off.  She struggled but made it back to her hut and called the paramedics. She was ok, she lost her hand, but she was alive. The next day the park ranger found the gator and killed it.  The park ranger said 'Alligators are most dangerous when they lose their fear of humans.  By allowing an alligator to remain in your pond, you unknowingly gave it the courage to attack.’  The lady still lives in the swamp, but no gators are allowed in her pond.

Sin, our failures are a bit like that gator. We don’t like to admit our faults and would rather tolerate them then deal with them. We may think that if we admit to messing up, or struggling God will throw us away like some old scrap paper. However this is not who God is, and our sin does not surprise or even disgust God. The only thing our sin does is make it harder to live in God’s grace, harder to connect with God. Who are we fooling, we all sin, we all make mistakes, we are all flawed and the quicker we realize this the quicker we can move on to life with God.

Pastor John from the bible wrote: [8] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10 ESV)

I know I don’t want to make the Creator of the Universe a liar, and I know I want to experience God’s faithful forgiveness and cleansing. The only thing left for me to do is actively confess my sin and need for God. Sin is not healthy for us to live with and will destroy our relationships with God and other people.  Is it time to get the gators out of the pond?  Simple, Sacred, Sincere.

St. Irenaeus's famous declaration,  “The glory of God is a human fully alive”

 Lord I want to be fully alive in you, take my sin, my imperfection and my failure and forgive me. Do something beautiful with this mess. (Amen)