Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests. Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no inward repentance which does not outwardly work divers mortifications of the flesh. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

-Theses 1-4, Martin Luther. I spent last week with the title to this post scrawled across my palm. Lord, help me remember.

Upon arrival home from church today, I and the older four of my younger siblings were sitting in the car remarking on the quick melt of yesterday's snow. It is all gone except for one lonely, dirty lump in the middle of our yard - the boys made an impressive mound there yesterday so that when all the rest had melted, there would still be one lonely peak. Shortly thereafter Greg flung the car door open, announced "I'm thirsty!" and took off for the very dirty pile of snow (it was practically black). Several sisters made futile grabs for his jacket in an attempt to restrain but I fear they were unsuccessful. I did not stay to see whether he used the less-than-palatable means to quench his thirst or not.

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