Inspired by Only Fragments

it’s because he’s the sun, the source of all light in the universe, and you’re just the moon with no light of your own.

I have been the sun shining so brightly that you lit up as well. But I was greedy, self-involved, callous to your pleas for your own two feet. I couldn’t hear your voice because mine was too loud and I loved the sound of it more than I did yours. I couldn’t hear your suffering because I believed I was the only one who had a right to be the victim. I forced you to be a martyr for my cause, not yours. I stripped you naked of everything I didn’t like about myself, absorbed your “good parts” as if they were my own. I tipped the balance of justice so that I appeared the one who was rightly outraged. I was repulsed by your actions because they were exactly what I would do if I weren’t so vain to believe I was superior to you. I held your confidence because that was in our agreement. You held mine because that’s who you wanted to be, or rather who “I” wanted you to be. For all of that, I hope you can forgive my recklessness, my rejection, my lack of confidence in who you were born to be. I beg for your grace and mercy that I refused to offer you, or myself, while I preyed on my own foibles as a pathetic excuse for a relationship with you.

Grace and Mercy

Grant me grace that I may understand what is happening

to me, to my people, to my community, to the world.

Have mercy on me when I harm others

in anger, because I didn’t think it through, because I’m human.

Grant me grace to know when I have wronged someone

so that I may apologize, make reparations, ask forgiveness.

Grant them grace to know that I am human, bound to make mistakes.

Allow them opportunity and willingness to grant me mercy

so that love, like kintsugi, can heal the wound with value and beauty.

Grant me grace that I may continue to strive towards peace

Please grant me mercy when I love imperfectly or refuse given love

and the grace to admit I’m talented at doing both of those.