The Gift
The Lord asked me,
“and when you come to pray,
what gift do you bring?”
And I smiled broadly because
I knew the answer.
I said, “Dear Jesus, I bring you
something more precious than gold,
more precious than frankincense or myrrh.
Even more precious than what my
special talents allow me to do,
like to play a drum.
My answer is that I bring the gift
that is most precious to both you and to me –
I bring you MYSELF.
I bring my whole body with its strengths and its limitations,
its triumphs and its wounds.
I bring you my heart and the deepest feelings there,
fear, joy, love, insecurity, inadequacy and empathy.
I bring you my mind with all its questions and insights,
and yes, distractions,
and thoughts that I judge to be holy or profane.
I bring you my breath, which is really our breath,
because you breathe life into me.
I bring you my senses and imagination
(use them please, won’t you,
to give me another taste of your love).
And I bring you my soul,
our soul where we are united forever,
where we are united now,
and during this prayer we focus our attention on that union.
And Jesus smiled at me,
totally tender, loving, and trusting as an infant,
and said, “Thank you my love,
each time you pray, it feels like Christmas to me.”