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Lord,
no one knows my story better than you do -
- no one, Lord -
and that includes me...
I filter my own story
through my pride and fear,
my bias and prejudice
and through the best and worst
of who I am as a human being...
But you, Lord,
you know my unfiltered, unvarnished story
- the whole of it -
apart from the fraud and fiction,
the pretense and posturing
I sometimes pass off as my truth...
You know why and how
I've become who I am
and you know all the reasons
I've not yet grown
to become the person you created me to be -
and still you love me...
You know all my secret motives,
the good and the bad and the in-between,
you know my desires, my passions,
my needs, my wants
and everything else that shapes
the story of my life -
and yet, you love me...
You know every hurt I've known
and every hurt I've ever caused
and you know better than I
what those hurts have done to me
and to others -
and still you love me...
You know all the blessings I've been given
and you know better than I
how I've used and abused them,
how I've accepted and rejected them,
succeeding and failing in response to your grace,
to your mercy, help and kindness -
and yet, you love me...
You know the whole of it, Lord,
the good and the bad alike
and yet you love me
and you love my story
- not on account of what I've made of it -
but because my story,
in its telling and in how I live it out,
my story is the history
of all that you and I have shared...
Help me to love my story, Lord,
the whole of it,
whatever twists and turns I've taken,
help me love my story
for it tells the tale of your great love for me
and of my every effort
to let your story blend with mine...
You love the story I have lived
and you love the rest of my story too, Lord,
the part we've yet to write and share,
the part, the end, that's in the making...
Make me mindful, Lord, and help me reverence
the stories of others,
whether I know and understand them well - or not,
for in my neighbors' stories, Lord,
I'll find the grace
to live my story
in your will and in your truth...
Amen.
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Beautiful poem. I've been reading your blog for several weeks now, and it has become a part of my morning. Thank you.
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