Faith is a Gift - Spoken Word Poem - repost

Faith is a Gift
by Brian Shivers - September 11, 2013
We are all on a search
for something we already hold.
That which has always been a gift
we find ourselves
on a pilgrimage to earn.

We hear the voices,
the loud voices ,
the painfully loud voices,
echoing in our ears
and into our being
shouting that somehow
we aren't doing it right.
And we are convinced.
So we feel as though
we don't know how to get that
which we already have been given.

But it is a gift,
not something we earn.

And yet there are others who scream
that we aren't aware enough.
That their version of the truth is that which
will redeem us
or condemn us
to hell -
to the hell
in which they are afraid they already live.
They forget that deep within the sinews
of our being
rests the same gift that for many
has become
a chore.

It wasn't meant to be that way.

You see
it isn't about getting it right.
It isn't about formulas or
earning the gift that burns
in the mysterious space we call a soul.

It is a gift.
It is something that no one has ever fully possessed,
save one,
who walked this holy ground
and made it possible for me to see
the gift of faith that dwells within me -
within you.


And yes,
Yes, you have it, too.
For this morning you woke
and put your feet on the ground
And after the chill of the stone,
the grain of the wood,
the nap of the carpet
became familiar once again to your feet
you took that first step of faith
into the unknown of what is called today.
And when you walked,
you accepted that gift anew.
And every breath that you have taken,
every thought you have birthed,
every ounce of blood
coursing through your warm body
is a response to the gift that you have been given.

Some will say they don't have faith,
but oh yes they do.
For this morning they woke, too
and walked into the mystery.
And that is faith -
that which compels us
to move directly into
the face of that which sometimes
frightens us the most,
life.

Faith is a gift
A gift that no one can own.
A gift that calls us
to respond to the one who gave -
the creator of all gifts.

So now it is up to us.
It is up to us
to swing our legs off the wrong side of the bed
and stand upon our own trembling feet
to learn to walk once again

this day

walking into the gift we have been given;
understanding that when we walk
we do not walk alone.


For faith is a gift.

Comments


  1. To Be

    Hi Brian Shivers , I was so blessed with your words and the topic your poems stretch upon. At church we're having a youth rally and one of the youths loved your spoken word poem , faith is a gift . And they would like to ask your permission to recite at our church of course credit to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind words. I would be honored. Thanks for asking.

      Delete

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