Nothing On My Own

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. John 5:30-41

Nothing On My Own

My burden is heavy and my hands scarred
deep cuts from carrying this load
I fear I will stumble, draw attention
to my plight, cry out in agony and reveal
I need your help desperately.

We button our suits and tuck papers
underarms tuning out the world crowding
in with strangers on a train platform
silent aching for conversation we are aloof
needy beyond words and yet sickeningly sure
of our independence.

The water rises and sweeps away poor
rich alike and we rush to aid the far away
and we still ignore the needy in our midst
the outstretched hands the searching eyes
our eyes our hands
we can do nothing on our own.

The Son with powers extraordinary and human
needy an infant, a small clumsy child
desperate for attention and affection
ran to a mother a father and cried
out to be sheltered from being alone.

We are made for each other by another
who aches to hold us tend us and guide us,
we are nothing on our own and yet we run
stiff legged pretending we are solo warriors
small children playing at being God.

And yet God aches for us
and we can do nothing on our own.