Lust- the second look

One of our vicars ( I know, lucky us, we have a selection) has been banging on about accountability again. He's got this idea, and it seems like a good one to me, that by keeping ourselves accountable to one person, by searching ourselves and our journey with God periodically, we help ourselves stay on the right track. It makes sense to me. I guess this blog is partly my own interpretation of that; that by living bits of my life 'out loud' I'll keep myself honest. I'm keen to investigate this in-depth one-to-one relationship accountability too, because I don't think all the minutiae of day-to-day sinning are best explored in public all of the time (applications for potential confessors will be most gratefully received ;-) ).

Anyway, this week's thrust comes from the format of how he does his accountability. He writes a monthly email to his mate and unpacks his life in sections, broken down by the seven deadly sins.

This struck me as a good idea. When I'm confessing, I can easily overlook lots of the stuff I get wrong. I tend to ignore pride, gluttony passes me by and envy gets off scott free. Lust is something I rarely think about. After all, most of my lust is for my beautiful wife, and that's to be encouraged, surely?

Now, I don't want to seem like I'm beating myself up, because I'm not. I have no more of an issue with lust than most people. It doesn't burden me or generally cause me to stumble. I'm not wracked with guilt and I feel in balance and in control with the whole area, but one of the vicar's comments made me sit up and pay attention. He talked about the second look; you know the one where, after you have noticed that someone of your preferred gender is fearfully and wonderfully created, with curves/muscles in all the right places, you turn back to admire them some more. Sometimes it's 'Well done on that one, Lord!' and sometimes it's a little less holy.

Now, right from the start the vicar said that he wasn't saying this constitutes lust, just that it was where he had decided to draw his line and he tries not to cross it.

I know it's something that I do. At this time of year it's hard not to, when short skirts and tiny tops come out of hibernation to appear all over the city. It can even make driving an issue as my attention is easily distracted from the road! So, I am making it a goal to avoid the second look whenever I notice I'm doing it. I will no longer follow bronzed beauties around supermarkets, gazing in wonderment at perfect legs. It might not be helpful, and besides, the legs that cycle home to me every night (that's them there, attached to my glorious wife) are more than worth a second look. I'll keep you posted on how I do. So far, I'm winning more than I'm losing.

Anyway, until next time, be well and run straight! This week, no bible as away traveling without it. Speeding: a little, and motorways only. Plan for today includes both a bit of bible time and a decent run.