Rough Drafts and Sketchings*

Rough drafts and sketchings.

Long forgotten.

Your roughness and "mistakes" long ago.

Rough drafts and sketchings.

No longer remembered.

Yet...

Your existence spawns treasure, 

a jewel, a gem, a masterpiece.

Beginnings of...

form.  depth.  beauty.

color.  richness.  texture.

shape.  light.  darkness.  contrast.

Rough drafts and sketchings.

Today I embrace your unfinished beauty.

Today I receive your part of the whole.

Today I bless your work in my life.

Today I honor you.

* dedicated to my niece

Yardsticks

Set us free
that we would know in our bone's marrow 

that we are deeply loved and
completely cherished by You.

May we know this as a grounding truth.

Our performance is nothing to You. 

No measure to You.  No measure You use. 

You don’t use this yardstick.

You know it exists, but You never pick it up.

But we come to You and say 

"measure me and here is my measure." 

On a good day oh do we fly high. 

On a bad day all we see is failure, 

rejection or abandonment.

Your word in these moments is this:

"Child lay down the yardstick. 

I don't need it and neither do you. 

It is not mine. It is not my measure.

"'What,' you ask, 'is Your measure?' 

 Child, that is a beautiful question and a hard one. 

Today lay down your yardstick

and in the coming times 

I will show you My measure, 

My grace bound measure."