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Poems Spirituality

Beware of the Modern Pharisees and Scribes!

This is that time when anything you say can be held against you. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. It doesn’t matter whether you were fully aware of the weight of your words. And it doesn’t matter whether you were sick or writhing in pain when you said it.

People will form their conclusion about you. They will feed their anger and their fear and blame it all on you. And they will do these things without even asking your side of the story.

Why ask when they want to satisfy their wrath? Why shatter their prejudices when they are blinded by their self-righteousness?

People will throw stones at you as though you were the most evil person in the world. They won’t care because they don’t care. If they did, they would have given you at least the benefit of the doubt.

But in the name of justice, they do what is most unjust. In the name of truth, they believed in lies.

They disguise themselves as lambs when they are wolves ready to devour anyone getting in their way. They see no hope and so they drive everyone to despair.

Tell me, who is without sin or blemish among you? And who has the right to cast the first stone?

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.” – Matthew 23:13 (NRSVCE)

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Prayers

A Broken Heart’s Prayer

a broken heart's prayer 2012A Broken Heart’s Prayer

Dear Lord, how could he have done this to me? How could he forget his promises? How could he throw away in a moment all the things we have built all these years? How could he break my heart? Was it my fault? Was it me Lord? Tell me where I have gone wrong. Show me my sins, flash them before me so I may know. For I do not understand how all these things can be happening right now. I do not understand how something so good can suddenly end up the way it is today. We were so happy, Lord. We were so in love we have not a care in the world. It was just him and me, the two of us, and it was enough, probably more than enough. He was your gift to me, and I to him. We complement each other, we share so many things in common, it is to him that I opened up my heart. It is he Lord whom I trusted with all my heart.

How then can he break it so? How can he betray our love? How can he suddenly say he doesn’t love me anymore? It seemed not so long ago when we would simply walk hand in hand along the beach, when we would share a slice of pizza and be satisfied just the same, when we would gaze at the evening sky and count the stars, content of what we had, certain that it would last forever like the millions of stars in the sky. I believed in forever. Now I don’t know anymore. I know nothing anymore. Can love be lost in an instant? Can true love really just fade away? I am so broken deep within me Lord I do not know if I can still piece together every shattered part of me.

My friends say that it will heal in time. They say I should busy myself with this and that, date with this guy and that guy. But I don’t know Lord. Are these the things that can make me believe in love once again? Are these the things that can relieve this pain I feel in my heart? I am not only hurting, Lord. I feel so angry that I couldn’t do anything to avenge myself for this kind of suffering I do not deserve. Do I not deserve true love Lord? Do I not deserve loyalty, sincerity and respect? He makes me feel so bad, Lord. He makes me feel so bad about myself. I built my whole world around him, and he took it all away. I built my self esteem upon his admiration, and he trampled upon it as though it were trash. How can he not feel guilty for what he has done? How can he suddenly be so happy now in the arms of another woman? How can I ever build my world again? How can I ever be happy once more?

Please help me Lord, I really don’t know what to do. Only your words can comfort me. Only your embrace can soothe my pain. I have given everything I could my Lord, and there is nothing more I can give. I kneel before you now, crushed and broken, empty and afraid to be alone. Hide me under your wings, hold me in your loving arms. Say unto me again how much you love me. Say unto me that you have called me yours and you will never ever let me go. Though men may fail, you remain faithful, steadfast and immovable as a rock. Though men may judge me for all the faults they see in me, you see my heart and reveal to me the beautiful soul you see in me. Help me to let go of my pain, teach me to forgive those who do not even ask my forgiveness. This burden is something I shouldn’t carry in my heart. This trouble is not something I should trade away my peace for. I know that I have been done wrong, the things that have happened had been so unfair. Sometimes life’s like that. Many things in this life really seem so unfair. But let me not continue being unfair to myself. Let me not punish myself anymore for the things others have done.

I offer unto you my wounded heart, my broken heart. I know it is you my Lord who will uphold me in the end. Let me not lose hope. Let me not cast away everything that’s good and beautiful in this life. I know that there is so much more in store for me. I know how much love I can still give away because it is you who fills me with everything that I’ll ever need. You are the one who loves me truly, eternally, unconditionally. You are the one who has always been there for me and always will be there for me. You are my one true love. You are my forever. You are my strength and my peace and my joy. Surely in your presence Lord, I do not need anything more.

A BROKEN HEART’S PRAYER was taken from the Book MEND MY BROKEN HEART.  You can download a free sample from the book by clicking the LINK below: