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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

A Suffering Poem

I wrote a quick poem this morning in the midst of feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and sinfully fearful. I wrote it in an instant message to my wife about us:

our pain is real
our lives are tough
our wounds stay fresh
our weaknesses glare
our hearts ache
but
God
Jesus
is at work
we suffer because He is at work in us
it is contrary to what the world tells us is life
Christ in us
real life

I think it is a poem at least.

The idea is that all the crap in my life begs to be called mine. It wants me to own it. If I take ownership, then I become responsible for all of it too. If I do that, then I take hold of the pride of ownership as well. If I do that, then pride rules all my life and I become convinced that I am living life because I am dealing with all my problems. Until the next set of pressures, the next hurt, the next sinful action. I am really tired. The remedy is Christ in me. I am learning through experience what this mystery (Collosians 1:27) really means - how profound it is. It means that I am much more hopeless than I ever imagined and that Jesus is so much more of a glorious Saviour than I ever dared to trust in.

5 comments:

Carla said...

Praying for us today. Your poem says it all, babe.

-V- said...

Wow, Pat. Thank you for sharing this... and it is most definitely a poem.

theswamphare said...

Good poem. Christ is not merely a salve for our hurts but the very reason they have meaning.

Katie R. said...

I think you and V should compile a poetry book.

I like our God. He's the best. (those weren't poems by the way)

zcoffeegirl said...

Pat...wow..just read this and it rang so true to my heart. Thanks for sharing it.

Swampy...I think that this is a quote I'm going to put up in my kitchen...."Christ is not merely a salve for our hurts but the very reason they have meaning."

Thanks, you two, for throwing me a lifeline.