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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me All the Days of My Life . . .

Just as sheep follow the shepherd
Because there is an affinity between them
So qualities and experiences and people follow us.

What we have become sings its own song
Vibrates like a tuning fork
And is answered by its equal.

I would bathe you, wrap you
In goodness and mercy, my love.
I would feed you goodness and mercy
Fill our home with the sounds and smells and speech
Of goodness and mercy
Until they are in the soft marrow of your bones
And in your expectation.

Look for nothing else.

Do not wake up thinking that something bad is coming.
I know people whose creed seems to be:
Surely badness and harsh judgment will follow me
All the days of my life, especially today
And I'd be better off to stay in bed.
Know that you are followed, tracked, pursued
Not by enemies and persecutors
But by your best friends: goodness and mercy.

What I would teach you, child, I first must learn.

I must become a mother who bathes and wraps herself
In goodness and mercy.
Giving all to you and nothing to me
Is not good.
Forgiving you and finding fault with me
Is not merciful.
I must anoint myself with the oil of gladness
Dress myself in colors of praise
Serve myself from a full table
That I might have life more abundantly.

And when I forget or fail
Then mercy from you and mercy from me.
What a wonderful foursome we make
As we walk this path:
You, me, and the promised
Goodness and mercy that will follow us
Surely, surely
All the days of our lives.

Carolyn Pearson

1 comments:

Andra said...

This is for all the mother's out there who have touched my life; working so hard, to love so many.