Whack, whack, whack, whack

The last few days I have had trouble concentrating. Something happened Saturday that keeps distracting my brain.

I attended a Lenten retreat at my church. One of the sessions was a spiritual exercise during which we sat quietly and contemplated Christ's sacrifice. This quiet time was occasionally interrupted by scripture reading and the sound of the pounding of nails.

We were invited to take the sin we struggled most with and nail it to the cross. Once I had the sight of the large cross and the nails and the hammer together in my mind, the sin I struggle most with came into focus and everything else in my brain became background. It has been that way ever since.

I nailed that sin to that cross, but I have committed it several times since then. And every time I do, I hear the pounding of the nail. How can I concentrate on anything with all that pounding going on?