My Journey to God

Epiphany

You can begin anew.
The old regrets, the misplaced hope,
Can be as if they never were.
I promise you.

You bear a weight of misery,
Of squandered time and chances lost,
Of failure and of worthlessness.
It need not be.

I do not see you so.
My eyes behold a precious thing:
My child, beloved, called into being.
Why hold yourself so low?

Your heavy heart a prison makes.
I would not have it so.
You fall and flail, but I would help
Throw off those binding weights.

You see yourself solitarily,
A lone pretense. But you forget
It is not you
But We.

“Behold, I make all things new.”
Listen to me now:
The past is gone. I see it not.
Nor must you.

My grace is yours, my dearest one.
No more despondent be.
You are reborn! Walk in my love
And carry on.

By Linda Abner

(Linda Abner is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis.)

The Criterion