All I Am Able

"How often have I desired to gather you in as a hen gathers her brood under her wings." -Jesus, Luke 13:34

Lord I am tired and sick.
It is not the tired a good night's sleep cures.
It is the tired only you can mend.
I am weary in my bones and in my soul Abba.

So this morning I come to you-
to this quiet place of meeting we share.
Because you have asked me to;
because it is all I am able to do.

I am weary of my own pride,
and from casting out my own demons.
Good intentioned though I was
I left your protection for my own.

And now, a shadow, I return
bleeding, bruised, broken and desperate
for your love to bind my heart
and restore my spirit inside your own.

So this morning I come to you-
to this quiet place of meeting we share.
Because you have asked me to;
because it is all I am able to do.

I am weary of the world
that invades me with noise, pain and death.
There was nowhere to run
on all sides I was groped, raped, and invaded.

Demolished by words and images
each one speaking fear, their hollow eyes staring
all without hope, lost, alone.
And I could do nothing but watch in horror.

So this morning I come to you-
to this quiet place of meeting we share.
Because you have asked me to;
because it is all I am able to do.

There is too much pain.
These wounds run too deep.
The noise is far too loud.
The violence grown too strong.

Alone, I am no more than a child
playing doctor to the withering in this death camp.
It is not I but you Lord- who can speak
and breathe life into these ovens we make for ourselves.

So this morning I come to you-
to this quiet place of meeting we share.
Because you have asked me to;
because it is all I am able to do.