I always liked Nelson Mandela’s response to being thought of a saint. He said he was not a saint, he was just a sinner who keeps on trying.

I am no saint either, and no one has ever thought of me in that way, or will, I suspect. But I also feel as if I am a sinner who keeps on trying. It is liberating for me. I make mistakes all of the time, I lose my temper, struggle with perspective, act out fear, feel regrets and jealousy at times. I can be impatient and intolerant.  Some religions are tough on sinners, they can get a short trip to Hell if they do not repent.

The God I grew up hearing about was tough on sinners, he cut their tongues out and smote them with nasty angels and lightning bolts, plagues and mayhem.

I don’t belong to any religions like that, they seem cruel and sinful to me. I don’t know anyone without faults, I do not ever expect to be one and ever since I have accepted that about myself – there are some people out there who do not accept that, they are not forgiving of my shortcomings – I have felt liberated. I will always keep on trying, I understand I will not ever get there. That is who I am.

I have learned that if I don’t forgive myself, no one can forgive me, and I cannot forgive anyone else.

I think in all of the world, only the mockingbirds are free of sin.

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy,”  wrote Harper Lee in her great novel. “They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”