A Year of Prayer: Season One Weekday Devotionalsনমুনা

This week, we will explore different elements of the scripture through poetry.

‘Give me strength
For I am weak
Guard my breath
And chase it
Because I can’t
Still myself long enough
To
Catch it
Give me better
Lungs

So I can breathe deeper,
Inhale bigger,
Fill faster,
Lunge stronger,
Lance Armstrong-ier

But
your hand reaches to silence me
Gently
Capturing the chattering jaw
Edgy with anxiety
And with your

Fingers
held
straight,

Palm up
in blessing,

Extending those rugged planes of punctured grace
Toward me

– What would a fortune-teller glean should she
Cast her eyes across those
Lifelines, split in two and resurrected?
How would she read the one
From whom eternity poured when he was
Struck? –

Come, it’s not a larger portion
Of grace, you need
Of air, you breathe
But a better way

Tarry, don’t worry.
Walk to Emmaus with me.

Damascus is good, too,
But for now, it’s Emmaus
Where
Your cautious chatter
And hectic banter
Carry down the road toward me –
They
Feel better than nothing
I understand! Your anxiety is out of desperation
And a desperate love for me

But I long to

Tarry with you,
Not worry, with you
Unhurried, us two.

Look. Seep. Still.
Be a teabag caught against its own will

Fill, Soak, Heal

Let’s waste time getting to know each other
Recognising the tales told in lines upon faces
Sensing the saviour, though he appears in the strangest places
Recognising the stranger in the oddest of spaces

To be Christ
Tis the Christ,
It’s like Christ to
Tarry, don’t worry.
Walk to Emmaus with me.’

Prayer: Jesus, jumble me to walk and not run in your presence. Help me to be satisfied with enough.

Action: Sit and reflect on what strikes you through today’s poem. What reflects how you feel currently? What doesn’t?