I'm Tired

Presbyterian Bloggers

Powered By Ringsurf

I am tired

I am tired of saying “Love wins”

And then watching as hate wins

Time after time

 

I am tired of myopic extremists

Who in their certainty and arrogance

Are dividing the world into armed camps

 

I am tired of politicians who grab cheap and shallow talking points

And use them to exploit the vulnerabilities

Of a frightened and struggling populace

And then use their power

To both profit and control

 

I am tired of the lies

The hate

The racism

The resentment

 

I am tired

Of people who say they follow the Prince of Peace

Clinging to guns

And choosing the way of violence and intimidation

Who would rather caress an AR 15

Then keep a child alive

 

I am tired of the rich manipulating the system

To get richer

 

I am tired of seeing people without homes

hungry children

objectified and minimized women

oppressed minorities

tormented immigrants

 

I am tired of watching the planet burn

For the sake of profit

 

I am tired of the arrogant certainty

Of extremist liberals

And extremist conservatives

Who insist upon total capitulation to their ideals

And reject collaboration and comprise (which is not always bad)

 

I am tired of war

Tired of tyrants who abuse their power

Hate-filled groups like Hamas

Cruel leaders like Netanyahu and Putin

 

Tired of watching children, covered with dust and blood

Mourning over the shattered bodies of their fathers

And mothers

 

I AM TIRED OF PEOPLE ALIGNING THEMSELVES WITH THE WORST VALUES IN THE WORLD AND THE WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

Hoping that somehow

They will profit

They will become secure

They will have power

They will get even

They will dominate

 

We are far from Eden Lord

Far from the Kingdom of God

It is not on earth as it is in heaven, not even close

And we are not being your people

 

We are not bringing the Kingdom closer

We are denying it day by day by day

Choice by choice                                 

Vote by vote

 

The foul beast of hate slouches toward Jerusalem

And Moscow

And Washington DC

 

Yeats had it right

The Best Lack All Conviction, while the Worst

Are Full Of Passionate Intensity

 

May we hear your voice O God of Love

May it thunder in our hearts

And echo in our souls

 

May we hear you calling

As we struggle through this wilderness

Of hate and fear

 

“prepare the way for the Lord

make straight in the desert a highway for Love

 

May every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;

May the rough ground become level, and the rugged places a plain.

May the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all people see it together (Isaiah 40)

 

May we make the way

By walking (McLaren)

 

I may be tired Lord

We are all tired

But you can renew our strength

so that our souls might soar on wings like eagles;

so that we can run and not grow weary, and walk and not be faint.

 

Or at least

Make it through today