Sinner?

When I arrived home from a week in NYC and found most of the trees stripped of their leaves, it was a nice gift to come across this red oak on my morning walk.  It will hang onto its leaves until spring.
In recent years I have rarely prayed "O God, be merciful to me a sinner," as the tax -collector does in Luke 18:13.  Like him, I know I am a sinner.  Even though I may not have obvious sins like his, I'm sure there are bits of sin and selfishness and self-centeredness hiding in the corners and crevices of my soul.
This parable reminds me that I come before God in prayer as a creature before my Creator, a redeemed sinner before my Redeemer, and a person made holy by the Holy Spirit.  There is nothing I can do without God's help.
This is especially true of prayer.  Prayer is God's work.  My role is to say yes humbly to God's work in me; and I even need God's help to do that, to say yes.  When I come in this humble way before Pure Love, whom we sometimes call God, Love will flood my whole being, seek out every last bit of sin, no matter how well hidden, and wash it away.