we sit down
with our sharpened pencils,
to chart out the
longitude and latitude
of your grace
only
to keep running
out of paper;
we tie a string
around each sin,
dropping them into
your sea of forgiveness,
only
to discover we can
never plumb its depths;
we scrabble and scrape,
push and pummel ourselves
from Land’s End to John o’ Groats*
on our self-planned journey,
only
to find
we are at the
starting point
of your Way;
how foolish we are
to try to limit you
by our imagination
only.
Thom M. Shuman, pastor/poet in Ohio
__________________
We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood,
and we have forgiveness for our failures
based on his overflowing grace,
which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding.
and we have forgiveness for our failures
based on his overflowing grace,
which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding.
I love the very graphic and unusual way he expressed things in this prayer. I wondered if the one line should read, “we attach a rock to each sin…” and thereby capture the picture of a rock plunging downward into the sea never to reach the bottom of God’s grace.
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maybe there is no need to attach a rock, as each sin is heavy enough alone
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