We all had to learn how to interact and take care of our animal friends, and sometimes that came with some unexpected lessons. One of these lessons happened when my little sister came into the house crying. She was probably three or four years old at the time, and she had been playing in the yard. My mom asked her, “What happened?” and she answered in a sob, “Kitty scratched me!”

We probed a little further. “What were you doing when the kitty scratched you?”

Less of a sob. “I was carrying the kitty.”

Now we were really curious. “How were you carrying the kitty?”

Sobs ending. “By the tail.”

The whole story is important in order for us to get the full picture of what’s going on. If we had just stopped at the cat-scratch incident, we might have been furious at the cat. But with all of the facts in hand, it was clear that the cat just didn’t appreciate being dragged through the yard by its tail — and the scratch was just the lesson to teach my sister never to do that again.

In today’s scripture, Adam and Eve both tried to deflect blame. Adam pointed to Eve — and, indirectly, to God for giving her to him. Eve pointed to the serpent. Neither one simply said, “I disobeyed.” What they didn’t count on was God’s full knowledge of exactly what they had done — just as he knows everything about our lives without us even telling him. Instead of shifting the blame, they needed to just fess up and admit that they’d done exactly what God had told them not to do. We inherited more than a sinful nature from that first rebellion. We also inherited the habit of explaining, excusing and redirecting blame.

Sin isn’t a favorite topic for anyone, but we all fall into error at times, and it’s important that we own up to the whole story and not try to convince ourselves — or God — that it’s not really our fault. Accepting our share of the blame is a vital part of confession, and that’s a necessity in order for us to be in God’s will. Today, if you need to confess something to the Lord, don’t give Him the edited version. Bring Him the whole truth. He already knows it, but honest confession helps us stop hiding, stop blaming and return to Him with a humble heart.

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