seriously...b.r.a.t.

i went to a babysitter for a good 11 years of my life. during this time i became an expert on the ins and outs of tattling. being a little sister every other weekend and holidays, this talent came in handy. there's a subtle but very important difference between telling and tattling. to tattle is to whine and make a big deal out of a small and meaningless offense. this can be used for your advantage, but its bark is much bigger than its bite. the biggest advantage is the panic-stricken reaction when you run for the stairs to tattle and the behavior (usually a stolen seat or pillow) is reversed. then there's telling. telling is completely legitimate. to tell is simply to inform the authority of something so horrible that it simply can't go un-reconciled. you as the informant are of course way too mature to be affected by the incident in question, you just thought it needed to be known. this is how i am with confession lately. i assume that God can't be bothered with the everyday sins of life, really it's only necessary to admit the big stuff....right? just like the babysitter...when we're downstairs by ourselves, she has to assume that 80% of the time we're doing something she wouldn't approve of. so i assume that he's up there, in complete knowledge of the little stuff, but i only need to tell the major sin. even when i do it's with the pride and ignorance i've carried since day care. rarely were there ever offenses that were personal, and definitely not personal to the authority. i still haven't grasped that my sin is offensive to god. he hates it. i don't, i'm over it. i know i do it, i know i'll always do it, it's not my fault it's eve's. how rude. if i were god i'd smack me. maybe that's why he gave me brothers (and jess & alex), to smack me around and keep me in line. except then all i do is want to tattle that i got smacked.