The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.

Proverbs 20:27

“It’s not my fault!” she insisted. The fifty-year-old mother tried to explain to authorities why she had embezzled one million, two hundred  thousand dollars from her employer. She said she hadn’t been a good mother and she wanted to make it to her twenty-three- year-old daughter. Her way of “making it up” landed her in jail for a five-year prison term.

“It’s not my fault!” she said. The twenty-three-year-old daughter had gladly taken and spent one million, two hundred thousand dollars on a condo and luxury  automobiles. When the police asked her where she thought her mother got the money, she said she never asked. She is now in jail for two years.

Granted, this is an extreme example of “It’s not my fault.” But it’s a true story, extreme only in the amount of money it involves. Each day as I sit in my office I am amazed at the stories I hear that end with, “It’s not my fault.”

I challenge you to look in your life today. Is there a responsibility you’re trying to avoid with “It’s not my fault”? Maybe today’s the day to take that responsibility back.

Prayer:  Lord, please give me the insight today to accept responsibility for my own feelings and actions while giving away responsibility for the feelings and actions of others.