Secrets

Secrets are those things we keep hidden from other people because we are afraid of what those people might think about us if they knew..........

I found a blog that apparently has been around for a year or more and is the most read blog with Blogspot. It is called PostSecret. From what I can tell, the person that began the blog started this project by asking people to anonymously mail a homemade postcard to him with their secret written on it. He has received so many (which he posted to the blog) that now he has published his 4th book with their postcards and secrets. The secrets are a poignant commentary on people's everyday lives.

I watched a YouTube about the project and it was very intriguing to me. All people have secrets, or at least I believe most people do. I do. There are usually a safe few with whom we trust our secrets, but still something inside of us wishes everyone, not just our confidant, knew the real truth about who we are.

Here is a little secret about me. There was a time in my not so distant past that I wished I was Catholic so I could go to confession. It seemed like a good way to finally tell an unbiased person, who didn't know me, about all the sins I'd committed. The priest would absolve them, making them nonexistent and the burden of my past would be lifted.

In the church where I attend, anyone can confess sins by walking down front after the message of the preacher, while a song is sung. Then, one of the preachers or elders sits down with that person to hear their confession. Next, they announce to all who have assembled for that service, what was shared and a prayer is led on their behalf. The glitch for me comes with confessing to everyone in the sanctuary and not just one person who is sworn by God to secrecy. So, the Catholic confession seemed to me less open to ridicule by all who were present at that service.

Frank Warren is the author of the book "A Lifetime of Secrets", recently released on October 9, 2007. My plan is to buy the book and read it cover to cover. In some weird way, it makes me feel better about myself to know there are other people that have secrets like mine. Who knows, maybe one day I'll send Frank an anonymous postcard too, or perhaps visit a Catholic confessional.

"Now make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will." Ezra 10.11