Holy One, I come to you,
contrite in heart and mind;
Assured that you will look
on me and, with your ear, incline.
I’ve wrestled with
rejection, deep within my soul;
At times triumphant in its
wake, at others, less than whole.
For I’ve known rejection
all too well in many different forms…
In relationships,
In grand pursuits,
In countless hopes
deferred.
Ushered in by mere
self-doubt, it plants a tiny seed
That roots in the soils of
my mind till it yields a mighty weed –
Crowding and competing as
it’s choking out my dreams.
I’ve known rejection all
too well, all dressed in formal wear…
In polite handshakes;
In envelopes filled with
12-point type.
It dines on my self-confidence,
gnaws on my self-esteem;
It sucks the sinew of my
soul, while it robs me of my peace—with its
Permeating,
Invalidating,
Dissing and dismissing ways, until all conforms to its pain.
I’ve known rejection all
too well, though dressed in different garb;
In furtive looks,
In broken dates,
In unrequited love.
While I nursed, cursed,
and rehearsed what was never meant to be,
I missed the joy of
blessing you for always blessing me.
But I’ve found within
another word, an eternal point of view.
It speaks to me of
blessing; it speaks to me of truth:
Man’s rejection is God’s protection,
Mama used to say. So, I’ll incline my heart to this truth,
empowered on my way.
Written by the Reverend
Veronica R. Goines, Ph.D.
(Pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Marin City, CA)
Copyright by Presbyterians Today
Patrick David Heery, Editor
January/February, 2016,
26.
Poem reprinted with the permission of the author.
No comments:
Post a Comment