This week we launch a series of animated readings of various devotional poems I have written. The poem will be followed by several weeks of blog posts related to the poem. A new animated poem will be launched about once a month. We hope you enjoy this new venture! If you like what we have done, please share with others through your social media outlets.
THE PLACE OF THE BROKEN BEGGAR
When all is said and done—
When nothing else remains—
When all is stripped away—
There I sit, naked and alone…
Naked and alone.
˜
Nothing to cover me,
Cling to or
Deceive me
From knowing I am only
Simple dust… simple ash.
˜
On this ground the masquerade of our condition
Is revealed for the farce that it is,
While our broken reality,
Is finally exposed… fully laid bare.
˜
I speak of the place of
Honesty and truth,
A place of desperation and woe…
The ash heap of Job
Just at our feet,
Shrouded only by the opinion
That broken we are not.
˜
If you listen it will speak.
What does it say?
˜
“Do not fear me.
Do not run away.
Though my pit be black as night,
Though my ground cold and hard,
Smelling of tear-stained dirt,
Though my frequent guests
Be solitude, pain, and sorrow,
Even still I beg you,
Embrace me. Embrace me.
Embrace me, not as the unfortunate place
Of the unlucky few…
A place for others
But not for you.”
˜
Yes, this I have learned,
And this I now know…
We are all broken,
Yes, broken beggars indeed.
˜
Some are rich, some are poor,
Some are famous, some obscure,
Some are nice, some are mean,
Some are dirty, some are clean.
˜
Yet, the beggars who live,
Are those who learn
Where to find the bread and water,
Who know the Hand
That feeds us all.
˜
These are ones who rightly fear,
Not the truth of their position
Or circumstance thereof,
But the One Who is Sovereign
And Ruler of all.
˜
And You,
You living ones of whom I speak,
Are you wise and humble enough
To beg in this terrible place of
Glorious brokenness?
The place of the broken beggar.
This poem has been adapted from the poem by the same name in David Trementozzi, Light for the Dark Night: Embracing a Heart of Holy Desperation (Maitland, Fl.: Xulon, 2005).
