Genesis 1:1
Location
“in the beginning”
hush.
a story has begun.
(not a list
not a prescription
not an exact way for things to be done
and who am i
to try and change
this story to a list?
of things that i need to do, become;
why do I insist
that rules would be easier,
safer, perhaps?
a world in black and white
where shadow cannot lapse?
A world with lines declared,
where everything is clear,
but this is not the truth,
not even near.
Lists will stifle
and corral
and box in
so that you know exactly
what you’re doing
and when.
but stories are like smoke,
curling as they grow,
and you can’t be just sure
where they’re going to go.
and love is a story,
spiraling around,
unable to be tamed,
always coming unwound,
and it’s made up of words
(the same substance of a list!),
but instead of saying what needs to be done
it calls us to come and rest
it says that there is hope
that we’re part of something bigger
that God is working in our lives
no matter how bitter
or tired
or unhappy we are.
God is working still.
and we’re invited to join
in the story and the love
in the final admission
that our lists are not enough
to convey all that we could or should or would do,
but God’s presence overpowers
and asks us to try
something new:
to love
and be loved;
that’s what we can choose.)