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"Only You"
Perhaps we could call this a modern-day psalm. Have you written a psalm lately? ONLY YOU My wish is to come only to You, to put aside and reject everything else to stand before You and to wait. Not to waste my time anymore with words and actions that don't count before You and make me dishonest. To order my life in a new way, to consider what forms me, and how others are formed through me and then to reject or emphasize more. Let it become visible in my life that you are the pearl for which I will give up everything. That in You is my treasure And my heart. - Ulrich Schaffer, in GREATER THAN OUR HEARTS: PRAYERS AND REFLECTIONS, Harper and Row, 1981. [Do you hear the words of the scriptures in this poem? Of course, the "pearl" and the "treasure" come from Matthew 13:45-46 and Matthew 6:21; but which lines are echoes of these other passages: Psalm 25:5, Psalm 27:14, Psalm 100:3, Matthew 5:16, Luke 14:26, John 12:25, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and Philippians 3:7-8? The list could go on and on. Far too often, for me, Jesus is only one of my treasures. He's a pearl of great price among many other wonderful possessions that compete for my attention, affection and worship. This poem/prayer/psalm gives me a bold challenge to "reject or emphasize more."] Have a great week, Chip Stam |