Across The Desert

Across the desert of rituals, dogma and traditions
have I tread as a wounded soiled soul,
clad in my filthy rags, always stumbling,
always straying from the narrow path
even though in my heart
I wanted to be different and less flawed.

Oh, the sin inside never ended
no matter what I learned
or what I did to feel it was gone,
it just left me feeling so dry and brittle,
totally unworthy of my Lord’s attention.

Years spent in that wilderness
have never rid me of every mar to my heart,
they still cling to my life
until at nights I feel that heaviness of my inadequacies.

But the Lord’s spirit comes as a soft, cooling wind,
He breathes over my wounds and doubts,
as I hear His voice speak that wonderful word of grace,
then I am renewed in my strength,
comforted in my failings,
while reminded that of how
perfection is never the path to heaven
since none of us capable of being sinless,
instead He opens His gate of unmerited favor,
the amazing blessing of His unconditional love.

Then I feel the peace comes
within my ache
happy to hold onto his promises by faith
not because I am deserving or righteous,
just because I take Him at His word.