druthers (Ephesians 4:1-16)

a loner by nature,
i don't cotton to others
very well,
preferring to wander
those less-taken paths
staring at my shoes,
swimming out of the way
of the other fish in the sea;

but all those people -
that crowd i could take or leave?
you
have joined me at the Hope
with those who are not
my cup of tea,
nor i theirs . . .

. . . refusing to let
my humility-resistant pride,
my gentle vindictiveness,
my impetuous patience
threaten this life-shattering
unity.

i may not have
the body i would like,
but you grace me
with the Body i need,
which
(by God's sense of humor)
needs me.

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman

only

we sit down
with our sharpened pencils,
to chart out the
longitude and latitude
of your grace
only
to keep running
out of paper;

we tie a string
around each sin,
dropping them into
your sea of forgiveness,
only
to discover we can
never plumb its depths;

we scrabble and scrape,
push and pummel ourselves
from Land's End to John o' Groats
on our self-planned journey,
only
to find
we are at the
starting point
of your Way;

how foolish we are
to try to limit you
by our imagination
only.

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman

braggadocio

joining the parade
as it snakes
through life

i swagger
to the front of the line,
my swash polished
and buckled around
me,

my swollen ego
floating higher and higher
pushing and shoving
till it is caught on camera,
for all the talking
heads to admire,

my pomposity
joining the windbag band,
we drone on
and on, playing
a tune that is all about
amazing me;

turning the corner
towards the grandstand,
i glance back
and
there you are,

sweeping up all
the blustery dust
trailing behind me.

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman