“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NIV)

“To confess your sins to God is not to tell God anything God doesn’t already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the Golden Gate Bridge.”

(F. Buchner, originally published in Wishful Thinking and later in Beyond Words)

It is an age old practice but not obsolete – confession. Those of the Roman Catholic tradition historically and still to this day enter anonymously a designated and sanctified closet to admit a myriad of wrong doings to a hidden mediator. The veiled priest prescribes acts of penance and pronounces absolution, such that the penitent soul exits the sacred closet relieved and with a clear mandate as to how to rectify wrong and reinforce right acts. 

Whether or not you adhere to this ancient tradition, the personal practice of confession is beneficial and much more than therapeutic—it holds the key to transformation.  Confession requires brutal honesty—coming clean. Then it leans into change. Change of mind. Altered behavior. Specific acts of reparation. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” (C. S. Lewis). One might say that daily confession is that which keeps the heart close to God and one’s life close to those you cherish and want to influence in a positive way.