Bear

Steve Skiver - December 13, 2021

I did not bear my cross today.

The man wrapped in a dirty blanket

On the side of the road

A crude misspelled sign

No eye contact was ever made.

I did not bear my cross today.

The woman, a tear on her cheek,

Maybe red puffy eyes, and yes,

A sniffle and a wipe of the face.

My quick turn away, to avoid embarrassment.

I did not pick up my cross today.

The child on the other side of the world

Who never heard The Name

Caught by violence in a civil war

Or was it a religious war? Far from me.

The man will be hungry again tomorrow

The woman might need a shoulder

When I have the strength

The dead child, will her god have mercy?

It’s a tough cross to bear.

If I was like the widow gathering sticks

To eat and then die.

If I was like the widow giving my last two coins.

If I say with Peter, “We have left everything and

followed you.”

Would that be enough cross to bear?

When Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” *

The Law demands a cross, a sacrifice.

I fail miserably, my cross never satisfies.

This is the cross I must bear.

Yet still, the cross that bears me, me crucified with Christ,

Christ, who loves and gives,

This life I live through the faith of the Son of God. **

Steve Skiver

The Promises from the Lord will be fulfilled,

(Luke 1:45)