Unclenched Hands

Today is World Poetry Day, and I want to share with you one of my favorite poems. It’s called “Let Me Think of Life” by a Puerto Rican poet name Lady Lee Andrews. [If you’re into poetry, you should check her out. She’s on Facebook and has some really beautiful pieces: https://www.facebook.com/Lady-Lee-Andrews-159725377380671/?fref=nf]

Let me think of life
For a moment
While I breathe.
Let me know inside
There’s a space
Where I believe.
A space with a reason
That can not be seen
Without the truth,
Foreseeing the evidence
Between the lines
Of time and youth.
Let me rest within
And hear the sounds
Of being whole.
Let me bring my body
To the level of my soul.
Manifest my strength.
Reaffirm the source.
Define my own awareness
As skill takes on its course
In the realm of the divine
One sees what must be sought
And will control the mind
When pain invades the thought.

I have this poem framed in my living room. I’ve never picked apart why I like it so much; I just know that when I read it, I feel calm. Thinking about it right now (actually, while I was typing it), I noticed that it reads like a prayer. It says all of the things I want to say to God about these past few weeks, and the future to come. 

“Let me rest within/And hear the sounds of being whole.” This is what God invites us to do- rest in Him and be whole again.

“Manifest my strength./Reaffirm the source.” This has been my prayer throughout Lent, and God has answered more overwhelmingly and lovingly than I could have ever hoped to believe.

I could continue analyzing it (I really love doing that) but I want you to read it without all of my interpretations bouncing in your head. [Then you can tell me your interpretations and we can discuss it and it will be so great.]

I don’t know if Andrews meant for this to be a prayer-like poem, but that is how it speaks to me. And to me, it’s a good reminder that God can (and does) speak through anyone and anything. His love is not limited and will find us in any and all ways imaginable, as long as we see the world with an open heart. He has taught me a lot of things so far during this season, but the fact that He is everywhere I go is probably one of the most beautiful. It reminds me that even though I have often felt alone over the past year, I never have been- and never will be.