Have I Met the Guilt Quota?

Driving in the car the other week, I experienced a rare quiet moment and realized that I hadn't been as attentive to God lately as I wanted to be. I've had the desire in recent years to cultivate a greater awareness of His presence throughout the day rather than just having a formal time set aside for Bible reading and prayer or whatever else. But I went through a period of dryness where I was living more on autopilot than I'd like to.

My usual pattern (am I alone in this?) is to then begin a stretch of time where I wallow in my guilt for neglecting God. It goes beyond the necessary confession of sin and thought of how I might change. It's more like the desire to prove to God that I really do regret my actions by ensuring that I've spent enough time in mourning. This is completely habitual.

That day in the car, I suddenly realized that instead of proceeding with a period of lamenting I could just start talking with God and getting down to the business of connecting with Him in a positive way instead of fulfilling an unnecessary guilt quota. Sure, there are times when we need to seriously confront some sin in our lives and truly spend significant time on it. But I think there are plenty of times in my life when a genuine confession needs to just move right along to restoring intimacy with God by connecting with Him. Otherwise I become more consumed with my feelings of remorse than by my love for Him, and precious time can be wasted by continuing unhealthy patterns in my life.