Imagine you wake up one morning and cannot remember anything you've ever done wrong. You have no feelings of regret, shame, or guilt. Instead you only feel joy, peace, contentment.

I wonder what it was like to live as Adam and Eve did in time between Genesis 2 and 3. There were no moments where one felt the other was holding something back. There was no feeling of jealousy. Adam hadn't gone out for the night and left Eve wondering where her husband was. Eve hadn't struggled with her self image, trying to match the look of women in a magazine. Adam had never lied to Eve. Eve had never taken advantage of Adam.

I often try to imagine what my life would look like if I didn't feel guilt any longer. If I could somehow learn to let go of the screw ups and bad decisions I've made. I know in my head that God sees me through the lens of Jesus, and that he no longer holds my sin against me. Why can't I live in this reality? Why can't I look at someone else I am struggling to love and realize that they are forgiven and that God loves them?

I wish I could live one day as Adam did, free from shame and guilt. To feel totally connected to another person, to nature, and to God. I'd settle for even a minute of feeling like that.

To know that as far as God is concerned, I am declared innocent.

Genesis 2:25