Poems for Brokenness

Good Friday is the perfect time to reflect upon our brokenness in the sight of Jesus’ brokenness for us on the cross of Calvary. In our neediest of times we can identify with our God who became nothing for us. His nothingness is authentically representative of the state of our nothingness. We have a God who can identify with our every need, sorrow and emptiness.

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The Saviour never sinned,

Yet died to cover all,

In the grace that came;

The forgiveness call.

Such a gift that is,

Endowed with love,

Is for us to accept,

From the Father above.

***

Jesus took the cup of wrath—

Humanity’s cause—

Satisfying cosmic aftermath;

Life defining,

After the scourge,

No need for refining,

Redemptive merge.

***

Profoundest miracle,

Changed attitude of heart,

That by which,

A renewed life to start.

Jesus’ fullness—

Only can sate,

Surrender to Him now,

At Salvation’s gate.

***

Feeling rotten and all confused,

Why is this begotten and not diffused?

Unparalleled—the pain—the life we’ve seen,

Oh, the desire to just feel clean.

Guilt for which we no longer need bear,

Because it’s a fact Jesus does care,

No matter the past, upon solemn state,

We now have destiny at Salvation’s gate.

***

For feelings of emptiness, why we do not know,

Sometimes for which we do not wish to show,

Terrible and ghastly, but inexplicable to boot,

How do I possibly get right down to the root?

Now, such despairing has its answer in this:

Finding our Jesus—somehow, bliss!

Beyond understanding our prayers have fixed,

Those feelings of emptiness, for life that’s mixed.

***

A position, a state, lines of derision,

Contending within, thoughts of division,

Anger increases beyond help it seems,

There’s now only One for which peace redeems.

God’s the Higher Power putting a stop,

To thoughts and feelings all a rot,

But somehow we must, within our minds allow,

That invisible power which God wishes to endow.

***

Basking within our pride unawares,

Soon we become a person that despairs,

Somehow we’ve learned this lesson before,

Now we come again to Salvation’s door.

Humility enough to repent before God,

Our brokenness restored—we receive his nod,

Nothing like the feeling white as snow,

That by which with confidence we go.

***

Brokenness is only the first part of the story. The next bit—the final word—is best. It belongs to God, who gifts it to us. None of our brokenness is beyond God’s healing touch.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: Terry George.