After an especially spectacular performance of three-year-old behavior, my son sat down in my lap to have a little talk. In a solemn voice he declared, "I wasn't thinking."
Of course he wasn't. Preschoolers have almost no impulse control. I am struck, though, by how often we adults have to make the same admission. It's so easy to slip into auto-pilot, or to forge ahead with our plans without considering the consequences.
In our service for the Reconciliation of a Penitent, we pray for forgiveness not just for the things we have done and the things we have left undone, but also for the mistakes we don't even remember. We acknowledge that we have gone through life without really thinking.
Prayer can create a space between our impulses and our actions. When we stop to take a breath and notice the presence of God, we receive greater power to choose consciously what we will do next. Then we act not out of habit or greed or fear, but out of hope for God's kingdom.
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