Trace It Down

Photo by Nikolay Vasilev on Unsplash

Trace them down,
these emotions you cannot name
yet feel powerfully
surging within you.

Trace them down,
until you can see them
and name them true
for what they are.

Trace down sadness—
all the losses and griefs
that have marked recent years
and left holes and gaps in life.

Trace down anger—
at the mistreatment by others
and self-abuse you’ve brought—
none of it deserved or good.

Trace down disappointment—
the friends who’ve betrayed trust,
the family who’ve not been what you hoped,
the defeats you’ve found in yourself.

Trace down anxiety—
the unknown futures that plague you,
the present moments of angst,
the past you cannot get back.

Trace down hopelessness—
this sense of emptiness
that captures you unawares
and leaves you motionless.

Trace down fear—
wondering what may come around the corner
which you cannot foresee
and feel powerless to change.

Trace them all down
so you can name them
and sit with them,
even as you sit with Me.

Trace them down
and do not be afraid
to face them as they are
with you as you are.

As you trace them down,
know they are not you,
although they are part of you
that you need to admit.

And as you trace them down
and sit with them
in this quiet space
unseen by most everyone,

As you trace them down there,
let Me build a fire in that place,
bringing light and coaxing warmth
within that dark environment.

Tracing them down is your work.
Healing them is Mine.
Let Me trace the route
which they take within your soul.

Let Me heal the course
each has taken into you—
your mind, heart, body spirit—
let Me heal each course.

Let me bring life to the channels
dried with bitterness and pain.
Let me bring rivers of cleansing
where wounds are still festering.

As you trace these all down
open your hands to Me,
your soul to My searching eye
and tender touch.

You have known sadness
and I AM a man acquainted with sorrows.
You have known anger
and I AM One incensed by this broken world.

You have known disappointment
and I AM He whose friends fled,
whose own follower betrayed Him,
and whose dear friend denied Him.

You have known anxiety
and I AM the One in the garden
whose prayers mingled with tears
and sweat like blood before the end.

You have known hopelessness
and I AM He who shouted
from the Cross’s cruel desolation:
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken me!”

You have known fear
and I AM He who stared into death,
yes, walked into it
for you and all creation.

Beloved, trace all this down as well.
Trace down the sinews of My humanity
and the weight of my glorious divinity
marked now by these wounds.

Beloved, trace the scars of the nails
pounded through My Body for all eternity
and the spear thrust so deep
it opened My heart’s flow forever.

Trace all this down, Beloved,
and bathe in love’s flow.
Partake of My Body and Blood.
Dance in the spacious place of My provision.

Trace it down, dig within it,
bury yourself beneath,
and let Me resurrect you
in all your dead, dried places.

Trace it down beyond where eyes can see.
“Can these bones live, Son of Man?”
“You alone know, LORD.”
Yes. They can. They will.

Let your life be a tracing down
into new life in Me,
into resurrection from death,
into the place where I AM found.

Trace it down…