I am in Christ,
Like baby in womb.
I am in You, inside of You;
You surround me utterly, surround me on every side.
Above me is You, beneath me is You,
To my front and behind me,
To my right and my left –You
If I manage to turn myself about so right and left are switched
Both of them are still You.
If I flip entirely so up is down and down is up
Both are still You.
You encircle me -nay, you ensphere me,
More securely than any child held in the thin band of arms:
All of You embraces all of me.
I am encompassed, I am shielded, I am covered.
Nothing can touch me that does not touch You,
Nothing can harm me without harming You,
I can never be anywhere without You
Nor can You ever be anywhere without me.
You feel my every movement,
And I feel Yours.
Your heartbeat above me is thunderous;
Your life overwhelms me.
Your lungs breathe for me,
Your blood is my lifeline.
Your skin encases me too,
Your bones are my framework as well.
You are my all and my everything,
I know nothing but You.
I am not just surrounded by You, but tethered to You.
There is a cord that connects me to You, my blood to Yours,
Like plant-part to plant,
And nothing matters for my sustenance but my connection to You.
I do not eat for myself,
You eat and I am nourished by Your nourishment,
Nor do I drink for myself,
You drink and I am watered drinking You,
Nor do I even breathe for myself,
But my oxygen is Your blood, so desperately I need You,
So endlessly I draw from You, so ceaselessly I depend on You.
And how simple my existence is!
If my connection to You holds, I will live,
If it does not, I will die.
As simple as that.
One thing and one thing only gave me life,
One thing and one thing only keeps me alive,
One thing and one thing only can undo me if taken away.
You and You alone sustain me,
And secured by that cord, I am playful,
I bounce from it, I swim, I float, I flip,
I have no concern nor care but that I am in You
And my tether is my freedom.
I am naked, yet You cover me more completely than any clothing,
And shield and honor my unformed-ness,
My strange limbs and disproportionate head,
My goggly, unopenable eyes.
I grow and grow and grow,
Taking Your shape;
Every day I look slightly more like You than the day before,
And there is no shame in You.
In You I go places I could never go
And do things I could never do.
I cannot walk, yet You walk and in You, I go too.
I cannot sit and yet You sit, and in You, I go too.
In You I climb mountains and walk on water
And sit down at the right hand of God.
You dwell in realms I cannot imagine,
You see light I cannot comprehend,
You hear and speak with voices I cannot place,
And in languages I do not know.
Your capacity is incomprehensible to me;
You have concerns beyond my highest reach of understanding
And pleasures I do not know that I do not know,
The joys of Your grown-up world.
In You, I am already in places I have never seen
And welcomed by company I have never known.
If I were not in You, I could do nothing but lie on the ground and die.
In You, I can do all that You can do.
For myself, I cannot do much.
I have three accomplishments:
I can kick You, I can turn somersaults, and I can suck on my thumbs.
This should not delight You as much as it does.
I cannot benefit You.
I have eaten from You and never fed You,
Drunk from You and never given back,
Breathed through You and never met one need of Yours as You meet mine.
I have stretched You, pushed You, made You sick and caused You pain.
If You ever questioned
What I have done for You
That I should be worthy to be thus cared for,
Or how I have earned as much of You as I can need or receive,
Or how I have deserved for You to take such pains for me,
I should utterly fail the examination.
Yet this question, though I ask it,
Though all the world ask it,
You do not ask.
I am Yours,
And this gives me the right to be Yours.
I am in You,
And this gives me the right to be in You.
You have given me life
And this gives me the right to receive life from You.
I am Your child
And from this right all rights flow,
And all that You have and I do not, is mine,
And all that You can do and I cannot, is mine,
And all that You deserve and I do not, is mine.
And all of this You give me without resentment.
It is unthinkable to You to call me parasite,
Though I drink Your very blood and give nothing in return;
My sheer existence delights You
More than I can comprehend delight,
And You are more delighted that I should need You
Than by all other things that need You not,
And more overjoyed that I should be within You
Than by any number of things without.
Someday I will see Your face
Someday I will see light like You see it
And emerge in Your world.
Someday I will enter Life
Covered in Your blood,
Birthed by Your suffering,
Welcomed with Your laughter.
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