“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” ~ Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Luke 23:34)
Tortured at their hands,
my Messiah didn’t wait
for apologies.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
In response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2021 April PAD Challenge: Day 17 – Writer’s Digest (Day 17: Write a Waiting poem.)
Pondering the blood-drenched tree
There but for His mercy, me
Tear-stained face, I bow the knee
Hallelujah! He is risen!
Low, for me His blood was drained
Love entombed, yet not contained
Absolution, as ordained
Hallelujah! He is risen!
(c) Marie Elena Good, 2013
Illustration: Quentin Blake/Puffin
“Look at what you has done. And there be no forgiveness.” (From Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”)
A WORLD OF NO FORGIVENESS
This story begins
not with, “Once upon a time,”
but with, “At no time.”
At no time has there
ever existed a world
of no forgiveness.
We could not go on
without mercy and pardon
for one another,
from one another,
and, yes, also for ourselves.
For our Creator
has built forgiveness
into the very fabric
of our humanness.
How deeply ingrained
is our need for forgiveness?
How deeply ingrained?
How deeply healing
when I myself forgive me?
And again I ask
How deeply healing?
Our God made a way for us
to be forgiven.
Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive others.
Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive ourselves.
So let’s live our lives
in the state of forgiveness
that’s been granted us.
“Look what you has done
and there be no forgiveness,”
and upside-down lakes,
and trogglehumpers,
and dreams that float like fireflies
are just a story.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019
There are times (and we are in them)
when people communicate
without vision,
in every way in which that phrase
may be defined.
There are times (and we are in them)
when truth seems intangible,
and lies lie before us.
With us.
In us.
There are times (and we are in them)
when the enemy of our souls
thinks he has the best of us,
because we give him reason.
There are times (and we are in them)
when the God who created all
sees His creation through eyes
we cannot even glimpse,
much less grasp.
There are times (and we are in them)
when this same God
immeasurably loves His weak children
and holds our downcast, shamed faces
in His hands.
There are times (and we are in them)
when the need for one another
is greater than the sum total
of the sin we daily live.
There are times (and we are in them)
that crave recognition of
our Savior’s costly love for us –
to help us see ourselves and others
for what we are:
children
in need of love.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
Photo by Deanna Marie Metts
The sermon was on forgiveness. My mind was as blank as the 3 x 5 card, on which we were encouraged to write the name of someone we need to forgive. Surely there is someone in my life in need of my forgiveness. I can think of no one. Not one. I contemplated and prayed in intervals, while listening to the sermon.
“Marie, I don’t need your forgiveness.”
Though inaudible, the sudden voice was clear, adamant, and authoritative … and just as full of love and understanding as anything I could imagine. At first, I argued.
“Of COURSE there is nothing to forgive! You are my GOD!”
How tender a God
who loves me as I hold Him
accountable.
© Marie Elena Good, 2017
pictured words 