When I meet people
who are
beaten down,
dim flame,
weather worn,

I desire
to tell them
a story
about a
young girl
who was given
a “favored” prophecy
that would
flip her life.

This “favor”
didn’t bring
loads of riches,
fine jewels or
three genie wishes.

Instead,

this favor
brought 
tired bones,
tender breasts,
teeming blood.

This news spread as
small town scandal,
family name smudge,
girl gone wild.

Still,
as the glowing rays
of Gabriel flooded her aura,
her inner affliction ebbed.

Her devotion to —
heavenly hope,
particles of promise,
layers of light,
led her
to welcome change

“I am the Lord’s servant.
Let it be done to me according to your word.”

In a wink,
she let go of —
her righteous reputation,
pristine plans, the
cultural “norm”

She said “Yes” to hardship.

There, in the
cave of her womb,
grew a
beating heart,
a fragile shoot,
a Love
who would
show the Way
by receiving

bleeding women
boisterous children
weeping widows
racy prostitutes
infected lepers
divorced lovers
Sabbath breakers
lost sons
forgotten daughters
brothers who desire glory
blind vagrants
fishers of men
oil-pouring devotees
midnight Pharisees
soldiers of the Empire
crafty tax collectors
kissing betrayers
dishonest friends
wayward robbers

His Love was for ALL,
birthed first, by a
Mother who Loves.

Let us never forget:

HER courageous love
birthed HOPE for the
heavens and the earth.

Let us be those
who welcome “favors”,
changes of the Divine.

Let us believe
we, too, can birth
HOPE from the darkness.

Let us believe
that LOVE is the Way.

Amen.

---

I love this poem, Before Jesus, by
Alla Renee Bozarth