When I came to verses 22 and 23 of Lamentations 3, they stopped me in my tracks with their goodness – an oasis of hope after two and a half chapters of despair. I spent the day humming “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end” and along came this poem as a prayer for God’s truth to seep into all the cracks of my soul and become my truth as well.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
But my patience dries up like grass
Turning brittle and sharp
In the heat of late nights and clingy days
Erupting teeth and toys underfoot
I find you at the end of myself.
Like the beach where island meets ocean
Where jagged rocks are worn smooth by endless current
Where the shards of my feelings, broken like bottles
Are disarmed and made safe
And grains of sand remind me of your promise,
The legacy of one soul devoted to you,
The offspring of a thousand generations that you bless
Beyond counting, the weight of Earth
Does not tire you,
As one heavy soul tires me.
His mercies never come to an end —
But my counterspace cluttered by unwashed dishes
Weighs heavier on my mind than grace.
I am counting hours and days, not blessings;
I measure what I have to give,
Not what I have received.
But in the ocean of your grace
I am washed and not drowned,
I am a wretch that you have saved through sinking –
My sink might be empty or full,
But my cup runneth over,
Blessings pour beyond measure.
They are new every morning,
Make me new every morning.
Let the regret of lost time and lost tempers
Be erased by the dew of a new day
Let the ache of doing too much and not being enough
Be bathed in golden light on the horizon.
You make beautiful things
Speak light into darkness
And a fresh beginning for my faithfulness
For great is your faithfulness