FAces

There are faces all around me Lord

As I wander around the beauty of your creation

And spend time with your children

House by house

Kitchen by kitchen

Person by person

Young faces, firm and flushed with health

Old faces , tired and lined

there a joyful faces

and peaceful one’s too

but there are faces

too many faces which are

angry or sad

hopeless and empty

These faces Lord haunt me

They cry out

One is a cry for help,

As cancer eats at the body below it

Another face cries for peace

as a story of anxiety and concern spills forth

shared over coffee and cookies

from one comes a cry of regret

and a plea for forgiveness,

as we talk about children, wounded and alienated

Lord

I collect those hurts and wounds

I cannot help it

They are given to me as a gift

And I am asked to carry that hurt in my heart

And at times I am weighed down by the load

Slowly pressed down by the precious burden

With which I have been gifted.

Help me to remember lord

That those hurts are not mine to keep

Only mine to carry gently

And place in your healing hands