Commitment Sunday

Indelible,
You write,
Across the landscape of our souls.

Yet we have forgotten.
We wander instead, forgetful.
Our memories fail us.

We suppose the world was ours for the taking.
Oh how we have taken:
Innocence
  Truth
    Justice
      Love
        Life
All of these and more we have taken.

We have taken and returned them:
        Empty
      Hungry
    Starving
  Famished
Oh how we have taken.

But not you, no not you.
You give and give and give.
Some say, "Give till it hurts."

But you give till, "My God My God why have you forsaken me?"
You give till, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
You give till, "It is finished!"

Remove the fog of our forgetfulness.
Peel open our clinched fists.
Awaken our slumbering souls.

For there is a promise we have taken,
A promise we have forgotten,
"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

For Jeff

Words, empty
Fractured by the kiln:
Compacted, comminuted, compound.

Half empty?  If only.
Grief, tragedy, loss ricochet,
Movement without meaning.

These tools are useless,
Rusted, worn, stripped.
"I miss you" will never be enough.

Election Day

Locked within the frame of my brokenness,
Pressed by the walls of my vision - myopic, prejudiced, woefully limited.
Just let me live in this glass house with my stacks of stones.
Admit my flaws?  Admit my hypocrisy?  Admit my double standards?
Maybe tomorrow.  Today's election day.