Category Archives: grief
near the feet: a poem for survivors
all alone
ever
among us
uninvited
and
ignored full of
shame deflecting
pity
a harlot by
choice a harlot
by force a harlot
just the same
her story
no one wants
to hear too much
for them
to handle
but
everyone wants
to whisper
clicking
tongues think
they know her
struggle
her fear
don’t look
back forget
the past move
on
give up
get over
go away
still she stays
she stays to heal
she stays to hear
she stays to remember
the grace
the touch
the taste
the forgiveness
she stays
to find
her
way
near the only feet
that
saved
her
Jesus
***************
“One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”
Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Oh? Tell me.”
“Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”
“That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”
Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”
That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”
He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50,The Message (MSG)
Is it well with you?
When Hokusai painted his Great Wave, he could not have known the tune it brings to my mind.
He could not have known the turbulence that is our 2011 society.
I doubt his brush trembled with the trepidation of shooters and lost children, nor was he breathless from the weight of dread and sadness.
As the reaching fingers of life’s recent, battering events curl over our hearts, I wonder:
Is it well?
Am I well?
Are you well?
In our souls?
After the pounding break of the great wave and after the sudsy remnants of the surf have settled, wellness in the depths of our soul is what we’re dizzy and reaching for.
Where will you look for wellness today?
Where will you find it?
When will peace like a river attendeth our way?
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” ~Psalm 122:8
