will place my law within them,
and write it upon their hearts;
I
will be their God,
and they shall be my people…
– Jeremiah 31
I know it’s there, Lord:
I know your law’s within me,
you’ve autographed my heart;
you’ve engraved your law, your word of love,
inside my soul and on my mind…
With
your name inscribed you claim me as your own:
your child, your image, your work of art divine…
I’m
branded with your word, your love
and so your word of love becomes:
the law by which I’m called to live;
the decree by which I make decisions;
the statute guiding all my choices;
the rule by which I measure what is good
and what is not…
And
yet…
and yet, Lord, I often fail to live by just that word,
that love, that law so intimately written by your hand,
so personally inscribed for me to read and learn,
to know and follow…
I will place my law within them,
and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God,
and they shall be my people…
takes centuries for tides to wear down boulders
to wear against the letter, then the spirit of your law
so beautifully, carefully scriven
my being…
My
pride, fears and sins,
my self-pity and my selfishness
began
to smooth away the words, the law I once knew well
and recognized as guidance from your hand,
written close to home where I might always find it…
My
own desires draw my eyes from reading carefully
what you’d written to instruct me,
to teach me where your way leads,
to show me how to walk in faith with you
and walk in peace with those whose
paths I share…
so come times when I forget
what you’ve so plainly written on my heart,
when
my conscience calls but I ignore its voice
and close my mind and heart
fair
what you desire of me…
renew your signature, your name, your claim
inscribe again your wisdom,
decide and choose, measure and discern
holy,
I will place my law within them,
and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God,
and they shall be my people…
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