In one Calvin and Hobbes strip, Calvin walks into the living room, where his dad is sitting in his chair, reading.

"I've concluded that nothing bad I do is my fault."

"Oh?" says Dad.

"Right! Being young and impressionable, I'm the helpless victim of countless bad influences! An unwholesome culture panders to my undeveloped values and pushes me to malfeasance. I take no responsibility for my behavior! I'm an innocent pawn! It's society's fault!"

Dad is totally unimpressed. "Then you need to build more character. Go shovel the walk."

In the last panel, Calvin is out shoveling snow. "These discussions never go where they're supposed to go."

Like Calvin, when things fall apart, most of us are tempted to look for someone else to blame. I catch myself doing it all the time.

It's as old as the garden. When God asks Adam what happened, Adam points at Eve: "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." (Genesis 3:12) Notice he manages to blame God, too. Then Eve blames the serpent.

But just a moment before that, Adam tells us why. He was afraid. So he hid.

That's what blame is, most of the time. Fear. If it's my fault, then I'm exposed. So we hide. And we point.

But notice what God does. Before anyone points a finger, God comes walking in the garden, calling out, "Where are you?" And before it's all over, God makes clothes for Adam and Eve and dresses them himself.

That's grace.

And it means we don't need Calvin's defense. We can tell the truth about ourselves, because the One we're telling has already come looking for us.

What might you be free to own today?

Prayer: Gracious God, when we're afraid, we hide, and we point fingers. Come looking for us anyway. Give us the courage to tell the truth about ourselves, and the grace to know we are forgiven. Where we have hurt others, help us make it right. And in the midst of life's joys and troubles, let us know without a doubt that you are with us, and that you are faithful. Amen.

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