My Milk of Human Kindness has gone Sour

I wrote the first couple of verses of this next poem as a way to channel the churning I was feeling. I didn’t plan to share it with anyone until I went to a Bible study that focused on God’s mercy toward us and how He expects us to show mercy to everyone else.

“Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:35-37

“Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.
Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:13
That’s what finished the poem and why you’re reading it.

My Milk of Human Kindness has gone sour

I have a hard time caring
when fanatics claim foul play
about how we reacted
when twin towers were blown away.
I cannot find compassion
for those hell-bent to die
and don’t care for the mothers
or the children standing by.

They claim that we’re all Satan
and we take it on the chin.
God forbid that we upset them
or stop them coming in
to undermine our government.
Oops, sorry, we’re too late.
Our country crumbles ’round us
’cause we can’t discriminate.
The bleeding hearted news doves
no longer can be trusted.
So, let me quote that country song:
“My give-a-damn is busted.”
I know that I should love them
and turn the other cheek.
But, I’ll need God to help with that,
’cause frankly all I seek
is a swift end to this holy war
that sends them to their heaven
with a taste of their own medicine.
Remember 9-11?
Then God says, “Where’s your mercy,
where’s compassion, understanding?
Love, don’t hate, your enemy
as the scripture is demanding.”
The fate I prayed befalls them
could have been my destiny
had God not shown his mercy
and sent Christ to die for me.

And judgment without mercy
is the judgment that awaits
those whose hearts are hardened.
But the Bible also states
if we love those who mistreat us,
God’s mercy will all be great.
So, help me Lord to love them
and take away my hate.

I shared it with a Christian friend who admitted he related more to the first couple of verses than he did with the last stanza. How about you?

Of course, just like this poem, when the frustrations overflow in us, we can ask for God’s peace and power to change. Because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.