Guilt: Why Bother?

I've been reading Vignettes from the Life of 'Abdu'l-Baha (as made evident by the previous excerpts I've already shared) and found this story particularly uplifting. 

We are told that there was one name that always brought joy to the face of Baha'u'llah. His expression would change at the mention of Mary Magdalen's name. Here was a woman who was transformed 'from the gentle, appealing mistress of Novatus to the saintly disciple of Jesus Christ...'

The Master said to Ethel Rosenberg, the first English woman to embrace the Baha'i Faith in her native land, 'It is said of Mary Magdalen that out of her went seven devils. This means seven evil qualities which Jesus cast out of her by teaching her the Truth. She was not such a bad woman as some suppose before her conversion but the wonder is that such a saint and miracle of purity and goodness could have been created by the New Birth. She was greater than all the disciples of Jesus because she alone stood firm after His death and never wavered.

What if Mary Magdalen had been too consumed with guilt to move forward?  Wasted the precious days of her life wondering how God would ever forgive her for her previous trespasses?

For so many, guilt serves only as mud on our wings, keeping us from ever taking flight.

A sense of shame is good.  Important.  When we behave poorly we should not be so blasé or uncaring as to not repent.  But, okay, repent.  Learn.  Move forward. 

So many Writings point to the fact that God is not sitting in wait to judge us, punish us, remind us of every wrong we have committed.  Rather He wants us to do well, to flourish, to progress, and He wants to help us.  We're the ones who deprive ourselves of His mercy, of His grace. 

We're the ones who keep ourselves earthbound.