“I tell you, Peter,
the cock will not crow this day,
until you have denied three times that you know me.”
—Luke 22.34
Beloved,
so many more than three times
I have promised, and I have failed.
I have acted as if I’d never met you,
never been so loved,
never had my feet so tenderly washed.
So many more than three times I’ve gone out
and wept bitterly.
Yet even knowing that, here you go,
entrusting yourself to me once again.
As if you know I am fickle,
fearful and unreliable…
and also capable.
Your forgiveness the earth I grow in.
The key you hand me,
over and over,
until I grasp it.
Even under the crushing weight of the cross
you hand it to me
until I grasp it.
Even weeping,
I reach out.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net