CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: NO ONE TO TOUCH

Abba

I need to feel your arms around me.

I am surrounded by people
but feel so often alone
I long for intimacy
but carefully perch
where I can scrutinize every approach

The older I get
the more I feel I am a child
aching for the warm security
of your embrace

The stuff I had thought would fill me up
has sucked the life out of me
people I hoped would save me
have failed
and though I have tried
I have saved no one

Strange, this:
the weaker I become
the more child-like
the more clearly I hear you
calling me
to become also a parent

You have fixed nothing in my life
but you have held me
and I am learning
that this is all I need

Help me then
Abba
to place my arms
(as I rest in yours)
around another orphaned soul

and trust
that it is enough.

Greg Paul is the founder and Executive Director of Sanctuary, a Christian ministry dedicated to establishing holistic, inclusive and healthy community that welcomes individuals who are homeless, involved in the sex trade, or suffering with addictions or AIDS, among many other issues. Greg is Chair of the Advocacy Committee of StreetLevel: The National Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness, and has authored two books, “God in the Alley” (Shaw Books), which was released in December 2004, and “The Twenty Piece Shuffle: Why the Rich and the Poor Need Each Other,” to be released in August, 2008.

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