Return

All those years.
All the time apart.
Living
with all our success,
pain,
loss,
abuse,
late night dreams,
confusion,
misunderstanding,
stumbling,
false pride,
moments of love,
and too often,
darkness,

were all preparation
to return
to your eternal embrace.

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About this poem

For many of us, coming back to God is a love story of love, separation and return. That’s part of the central message of Christianity at it’s best – that God’s arms are open to us, no matter where our journey has led us in the meanwhile.

The picture is of a card the woman I love sent me a few birthdays ago and that sits on my desk where I can see it every day. Those of you who know me know that our love story too is one of love, separation and return.

Tom

About these Lenten Poems

My friend Cathy Benson is on to something. Instead of doing without for Lent, she is doing MORE with a prayer project that is thoughtful and caring.

Giving up something for Lent is a church tradition, not a biblical command. It was designed to get our minds and hearts right as we approach the holy week and Easter. It’s a good spiritual discipline.

But I think a spiritual discipline of doing something more is also a powerful way to prepare our hearts for Easter. The Methodists, through their “Rethink Church” initiative have come up with a photographic way to do this (see below). I am going to add a poem with each image for the lent season to help prepare myself. Feel free to glom on to the idea, visit to blog and read, share your thoughts and your prayers.

If you want to read all the Lenten Poems, go to the “lent” category on the right, and it will list them for you.