A theology of need

This is a poem that I can't stop working on. It was published last year (Iris Literary Journal), but I keep going back to it. This summer, I workshopped it at UST with the poet James Matthew Wilson (and several wonderful writerly friends).  I think they helped me see it with fresh eyes. 
The idea for the poem and the main image of brokenness as a blessing came to me while I was volunteering as a chaplain's aid at the hospital.  What I began to sense as I visited patients and sat with families, was that they --in their struggle, in their fear, in their need-- were being transformed into sources of grace.  Often there was nothing I could do but sit by someone's side and hold their hand and listen to their tears, their memories, their laughter--or just the quiet discomfort of their breathing.  And yet, when it was time to go, I always felt that I was the one who had been blessed by the visit. As if  their sorrow, their trial, their need had opened a space for grace to enter into my own life, my own heart, my own soul.  

I find this to be an idea that haunts me.. It may be strange to say about your own writing, but it is true.   

A theology of need

  

Insufficiency

is the body’s theology;

 

an emptiness within

our every effort

where another may find

 

space

 

enough

to be enough:

 

an empty cup waiting

for a broken pitcher.

 

To fill a void with our own

is to finally find a home,

a space where we belong.

 

This is the body’s

theology.

The saints are never

 

wrong.