All things work together

Earlier today I had an exchange on the REBORN listserv that opened my eyes after I sent it, and I have received permission from Dan'l to share it with you.

Dear dear Dan'l, peace and good.
At 10:01 AM 6/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:
..... somehow the idea struck me that the most terrifying thing
about coming to judgment would not be seeing the Face of the Judge,
but being shown what I myself am, what I have allowed myself to
become, with all the lies and self-deception stripped away. I thought
of this, quite graphically, as filth and corruption.

And then I saw a very clear image of dirt, filth, worms creeping
through it. I was revulsed ...
... and suddenly the image, without changing, became a beautiful
thing. It came to me clearly, as if from outside my own mind, that
this was an image of fertile soil in which good fruit could grow.

Have I cracked totally?

No, Dan'l, you haven't. Or if you have, so have all the rest of
us. :) _All_ things are working together for good for those who love God,
and that means _everything_, even our faults and stupidities and strange
crevices of the psyche, and even our sins. Hard to believe when I have to
go to confess some idiot sin or another I done did, but true. The kitchen
scraps and eggshells and dirty bunny bedding of life, spends a little time
in the compost bin with the microbes and the worms, and comes out as brown
gold. The Lord can, and does, do the same with our failings. Of course,
the normal disclaimers: this isn't a license to be licentious, and consult
your own pastor/confessor before making major life changes.
I'm not one who's good at citing Scripture by chapter and verse, but
there's a couple of expositions on this in St Paul's epistles.

Dan'l, enjoy.

karen marie
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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit consume our sins together, and by
theosis convert us, as though we were a holocaust, into their unity.
----- John Scotus Eriugena
.