Gods . . .
Written By Rev. Philip Stonhouse
Commentary below the poem:
When first we thought
We stopped to listen
That is when we heard
A single word
Whispered in the wind
Gods......
We rose to that word
Thinking to make it true
And so we sought more
To kill everything we met
Dominate everything we touch
And win everything we tried
Our actions drove the world
To nothing that was good
No thing was enough
We left behind what was.
So all things were lost
Yet still we heard the whisper
When first we saw another creature
We hear the whisper: Gods ......
So quick we killed it for our food
When first we saw a great oak
We hear the The whisper: Gods........
So quick we cut it down for our home
When first we met another person
We hear the whisper: Gods.......
So quick we prove that we are better
In the vast and endless pursuit
We try to make ourselves Gods
But in that we lose the world
As the loneliness settles
That we have inflicted on ourselves
And as we see
the desolation we have caused
The realization hits that we heard wrong
It was a soft, gentle, and loving whisper
Labeling us not as gods but God's
An introduction
to the one who made us
The one who cherished us
The one who wants to hold us close.
As we looked at the world
the voice labeled the things we saw
As lovingly made.
And so were we,
Meant to treat them as such.
How far we have fallen
Maybe we resisted
Belonging to another,
But in our struggle
we only belonged to blind desire
And lost who we are
And what that means
We sought to be gods
But became anything but.
There was rarely settled joy
Our only pursuits were wanting
As nothing came close
to belonging to God
And so we lose everything
to gain nothing
In being God's
We were meant to be gods.
But we didn't know the meaning
Of our great destiny
Power was only part of the answer
It was love that we missed.
Love that cherishes all things
understands all things
shares all things
holds all things
gives all things
Even our very self
This is to see through the eyes of God
And act like our creator
This is part of loving God in return
And as we do He makes us more like Him
Only in this do we become more
And reach beyond our created order
(and become truly free)
If we were only to listen
and see the world for what it is
We would have seen
that He has given us everything we need.
This world could be our throne,
and all these people could be our family.
God has made us more,
but we have made ourselves less.
The hope still remains
that once more we could be God's.
Stop, listen and hear
the gentle whisper is still there
"you are God's"
Hear these words and know
you were lovingly made
Commentary: I wrote this while praying for people on the subway. I watched them as they flittered here and there in search of something, so rarely actually settling into what was actually present.
