God Walks Slowly

 

"God walks slowly

Because he is love."

Words of the Japanese theologian

Kosuke Koyama.

Do you walk slowly, Lord?  

I think you do.  

I have walked with you

In the cool of the morning

When the world 

Is asleep.

I have held your

Roughened carpenter's hand,

Felt the bumpy scars

Around the hole

Where the nail

Ruptured your palm.

And I have walked with you.

Ever so slowly

In coolness and darkness

And silence.

Being savored by

Your presence

Like a home 

Cooked meal.

This is love.

Being with a person.

Including me

In your pace.

For you are God.

You can run at

Light speed.

Cross galaxies

In a blink.

And yet, you

Take your time.

You take on time.

For example,

You funneled 

Your Godhood

Into a bottle

Made of flesh.

You slowed down

To be born of a woman.

And suddenly,

Here you were.

Immanuel.

God with us.

You slowed

Infinitely to match

Our weakness

Our limitation.

You knelt down

Ten billion miles

To wash our feet.

And even to die for us.

Butchered on a cross,

Slowing down to endure

An agonizing death.

You could have left. 

And this is love.

To hold my face

In your hands, and

Smile upon me.

And be with me,

Present in the moment.

You honor me

Ten billion times

Beyond what I deserve

Simply by noticing me,

Me, a dust mite in the wind.

And not only do you

Notice, and know me.

You love me.

Enjoy me.

Spend time 

With me.

A Father tossing me

Up into the sunshine.

Catching me, tossing

Me again as laughter

Rains.

I feel my flaws, though.

Thistles that bristle

In my chest.

The areas 

Where I'm not cutting it

Cut me all over.

I feel my unworthiness,

And it pulls me from you.

Because I think,

You are God, and see

Everything. Certainly

You see and disapprove.

How could you not?

But I am not God

To tell God how He should feel

Or what He should see.

Your holy word says

That when you see me

You see the innocent blood

Of your Son; the sweet

Savor of his sacrifice,

And are pleased with me.

Delighted in me.

Because of the 

Infinite mystery

That his perfection

Is mine forever.

I will not pull away.

I will not insist 

On my unworthiness.

I stand on the merit

Of Christ alone.

I will leap for joy

That you don't see

What I see; and sing

My gratitude with

These words.

And I will love you

And be loved by you

Living in a miracle

I may never understand.

With a God who has

Chosen to slow down

For me, infinitely,

To enter the microscopic

World of my life,

And sit with me,

Laughing on my

Front porch,

Drinking coffee.

Patiently teaching me

My infinite worth

Simply by sitting here.