Belong to the Day
A Poem About Light
“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.”
1 Thessalonians 5:8-10, NRSVUE
Belong to the day,
friend. Pull back
the curtains and remove
the blinds—
let in the Light.
Here, the shadows
in the living room
only suggest
a great Radiance.
"But I'm accustomed
to the dark—
will I fade when
Light invades?"
"No. We will
become one.
From your eyes
I will stream."This poem was inspired by this prayer attributed to Theresa of Ávila:
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
I find it difficult to let God’s radiance invade my life. I recently read someone who wrote: “Thy will be done. My will be dumb!” as a supplement to the Lord’s Prayer. While I wholeheartedly agree, I do worry, “What will become of me?” Or, more honestly, “What will God ask me to do that I am deeply uncomfortable with?”
But in God, there is no doom. The promise is that we live with and in Christ. Because Jesus lives, we live.
What does it look like to let the Light in? In the poem, I describe it as opening the curtains in a dark room each morning. Through the small moments of letting God’s Light in, Christ’s radiance grows. Some days we won’t be as open as others. Some days our faith may feel greater or weaker. Some days we will hold to darkness and not to light.
So open up. Let in the Light. Each time I let even the smallest part of God’s presence into my life, I am left glad and transformed. There is no turning or shadow in God. God’s compassion never fails. God is faithful. God is faithful. By some mystery, God is faithful. I can’t understand God. But I can cling to God in the same way that I rely on light to move through the night.
Awesome Drew.