It’s always a treat to have someone contribute to this blog. Today, I’m sharing a poem from my dear friend Barbara Saathoff. She is a wife and mother in San Antonio, TX. She has also become a dear friend along the journey. The conversations we have and the opportunity we’ve had to share our discoveries has become a source of true joy in my life.

Brokenness is Beauty

Your brokenness is beauty
Your healing is in sight
In your trials you find triumph
And through darkness you find light

God doesn’t hide from you
He doesn’t take offense.
He created you in His image.
He breathes your every breath.

Shame is not a virtue
Despite what you’ve been told
Every person in every nation
Is formed in God’s beloved mold.

You speak His name with every breath
Your heartbeat is his rhythm
Don’t ask for him to come to you
He is with you every minute.

Don’t deprive yourself of love or belonging,
to yourself or others
We are family with all humanity,
we are sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers.

Smile at those that curse you
Forgive their ignorance too
Don’t hide yourself away in silence
They know not what they do

Speak truth to bullshit
but do so with civility
God gave to you a unique voice
so speak responsibly

Your brokenness is beauty
Your pain will bear its fruit
This world is very broken but
Love will take its root.

~BarbaraAnn~

“We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God’s love is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another, it means that God is choosing us now and now and now…”
~Richard Rohr~