I

Am

Because

God is!

God the maker, builder, shaper, God the poet, painter, artist,

God the dreamer,

 dreamed a dream and called me forth

Me, you, we, us,

All of us together,

You and I were a gleam in the eye of God

A hope in the heart and a whisper in the ear

She felt us in her womb before we had a shape,

He took us in his hand before we had a body

God

Divine mystery

Miracle worker

Wonder of wonders

Gracemaker extraordinaire

Said I love you, before I was.

Said I believe in you before I believed in myself

Said walk with me before I could crawl,

 said you are because I am

Said I am because you are

God, that mysterious presence that lives in and through all things, even us, you and me

said come,

come forth from my womb, my heart, my hope, my love.

Be my heart, my hope, my love, my truth, my… playmate

I want you to be,

I want you to be free, to be whole, to be light, to be love

So Become love

Become grace

Become compassion

Become all that you can

Because you can

See, I set before you wide horizons and deep canyons

I set before you majestic mountains and a big sky

I give you possibilities unimagined

And the gifts to imagine them,

I give all things to you not to have, but to hold, not to hide, but to cherish

I give you wisdom to know

I give you knowing to share

I give you words, and sighs, laughter and tears

To express the inexpressible.

To touch the mystery that has no boundaries, to be the mystery

sigh...

In the beginning I was, and will always be,

In the beginning we were together, whole and free, big and beautiful

So it will always be

Eternity is yours

 you need not earn it

grace is yours too

abundant, and amazing,

fragile and free,

strong and sturdy

light and lively

wise and wondrous

all of it yours for the asking.

Take heart, then

 my heart

full of courage, strength, loving kindness, and yes, breathtaking forgiveness

 weave from these a life,

a tapestry of wonder,

but be not fooled

I design you for purpose not perfection

you cannot take a road where I will not be, you cannot find a place I have not been

you cannot build a world too small for me to find you

death may come, sorrows may haunt, and fear may batter you

but through it all, my embrace is unbreakable

I will not leave you      I cannot leave you,

Remember?   I am because you are.

And so the time has come

You are ready, you can do this, I believe in you.

you are one with me and I with you

You are one with each other too.

You are not alone, nor will you be forgotten

in the hollow of my heart there is a place for you, each of you

a dream and a prayer too

whatever happens, remember this

you are not a mistake, you are not a lost cause,

you are not a regret.

A work of love, definitely

a work in progress, but of course

a work of art      

you better believe it!