What Lies Within (Lisa)

Relationships can be complicated. The older we get the more we accumulate them in our communities, friend groups and family. As we all age, sometimes those relationships can become not so easy anymore.

We may be encountering an older person who just seems angry at life. It seems, for them, with every new age spot comes a new spot of bother. Their bodies begin to fall apart, they may get confused, their freedoms become more limited. They don’t trust themselves as they once did and it frustrates them. They have to ask for help when their lives were once so independent. They see their relationships changing and they feel helpless to do anything about it. At times, they want to blame the world for this, that and the other thing, looking for an easy foe when things are more complicated than that. They are tired and hurting, worn down and fed up so being around them is not always that easy.

I certainly don’t wish to become the picture of a grumbling age spot but I am beginning to dip my toes into that chapter of life. If we are blessed enough to live a very long life, we will all have our own story to carry along with each coming mark of life. In my own challenging moments, I pray that I will give all my pain and frustrations to God but when I fail, I hope to be surrounded by even one person in my life who will see the Christ that lives in me, still.

For today, I want to dig deep into the compassionate heart of Christ and seek what lies within that fully alive person before me, recognizing he has a history, a story, a life in Christ. I’m paying attention to his spots today. What lies within these beauty marks of a life, long lived?

What lies within

This weathered skin

This broken smile

This callused heart?

What lies within

This bruised affair

This tattered trust

So torn apart?

What lies within

This battered faith

This tired strength

This faded courage?

Look deeper than my thinning skin

To find the life that lies within

A lifetime of war stories to proclaim

So much I lost with wisdom’s gain

See me. Hear me. Christ lives in me still.

So little time remains yet a life left to fill

With

The warmth of your embrace

Gentle kiss upon my face

Fragrant laughter for the tears

Scent of hope in coming years

The color of promise, the more I pray

For

A soft, sweet memory

Of that warm summer day.