image: yoshiko314


Too much to take in all at once, Lord,
the wonder of your love.
The glory of its breadth and depth and height,
its never-changing power to recreate my life.
The force that holds the universe in equilibrium
yet finds the time to smile on me.

A love that meets the weakest link,
invites it to come close and never says goodbye.
A love that sees the possibilities in me
and if in me in everybody else as well.

There have been times, Lord,
when I thought I needed to be good
to force an entry to your kingdom.
Or if I paid attention to the rules
the gates would open automatically.
It was an uphill struggle, Lord
that left me gasping,
but as I paused, breathless and battered,
somewhere along the road
I glimpsed the truth I'd hidden from myself
- the door's already open wide,
the welcome warm.

I'm loved for who I am, just as I am,
because of who you are.
Past records are ignored.

It takes the strain away
and let's me concentrate on others, not myself.
The fight for paranoid perfection I can never reach,
unnecessary.

There are no favourites with you,
no special privileges that buy me precedence.
I come as others come not as of right or race,
or by genetic grace,
but through your open-hearted, open-handed love.

And if I hear you laughing gently
at the struggles I've been through
so be it.
I'll share the laughter with you
when we're face to face.

Eddie Askew
from the book "Unexpected Journeys"
A Collection of Meditations and Prayers
page 130-131


see also:
testimonies
reflections




And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works;
if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 11:6 TNIV