identity check

A favorite poet/artist of mine once wrote,
"when I consider the heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him?
the son of man that you care for him?"

or as Eugene Peterson expresses it:
"I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?"

Last night I listened to another version, from the band Casting Crowns:

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

I am yours.
I am yours.

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am yours.
I am yours.

-Casting Crowns

Those are a ton of words to breathe in, contemplate, and consider, much less to live. But worth pursuing and believing. Thank you for your grace, Abba. It is undoing.

(photo credit: Hildred, Ocean Shores, Washington, 0803)