Why do we have two
Arms
Hands
Legs
Feet
Nostrils
Ears
And eyes?
Yet one
Heart
Mouth
Chest
Gut
Mind
Body
And soul?
Perhaps God
Seeing and foreknowing
The fractures
And divisions of
Earth and sin
Made woman
And man
To stand in the gaps
And trust and turn
To the One
In the midst of the Many.
Two arms, two hands
One chest
For the ones
Nearest and dearest to us
Will hurt us
And even more
Hurt each other
And we must stand
Between broken hearts
In divorces and separations
Midst hate and dissent
Through moves and goodbyes
Through falls from grace
Through slow fades
And have the courage to hold
The hand of the hurting
And the arm of the abuser
To stand as a link between
Prodigals and abandoned mothers
Former flames
And best friends forever
Wandering souls
And worried companions
One chest filled with courage
Two arms, two hands
Holding the world together.
One body
Two legs, two feet
To stand in a world
That’s always on the move.
Even when standing still
One foot is a second
Behind the other.
We may live in the present
But we always have
One foot in the future
And one in the past
One foot to stand
With those behind us
Who made us and formed us
Who comforted us
Or tormented us
Our parents and peers
Teachers and fears
Embodied and dying
As time rushes forward
With one foot before us
In eager anticipation
Of someday friends
Spouse and children
Of future vocations
Wherever God leads.
We stand firm
In who He’s made us to be
Present
Married both
To what is coming
And what has come
Two legs, two feet
One body, just one.
And pairs of eyes
Of nostrils
And ears
To see and smell and hear
All the world has to offer.
The world is neither
Black nor white
But black and white
And gray and colorful.
One eye would give us
Poor depth perspective
And poor perspective
Of beauty
Of light
Of right
And wrong
Good and evil
Blessings and curses
Boons and pains.
We need two eyes to see
Both sides of the coin
The issue
The person
The world
And realize that things
Are more complex
Than quick glances
And first impressions.
And two nostrils
Can sniff out
Truth and deceit
As well as clean laundry
And foul smelly feet.
So many things
Waft through the air
Literally and figuratively
Without our conscious awareness
Yet scent is the sense
Most tied to memory
And with each nostril
We bring in the good and the bad
To turn from evil
(Or odorous places)
And move towards good
(And pleasant fields abloom).
Two ears to hear
All things
Melodious and malodious
Words both fine and unrefined
Comforting lines
From friend and deceiver
Challenging criticism
From neighbor and foe.
For we do not communicate
With simple neat word bubbles
But gush forth syllables
That befriend and betray
Truth intermingled with
Flattery and envy
Love mixed with spite
Mixed with fear and regret.
Two hears to hear
The moanings and groanings
Of a dying world
And one mind, one heart
To interpret it all.
One mind
To navigate
Between the lines
Through the lies.
One heart to remember
All the broken parts
Of humanity
We face each day.
One mouth to eat
What we can find in the desert
To speak our peace
To kiss and betray.
One gut to intuit
To process and digest
All the garbage and dung
We are fed to decay.
One soul, one body
To grow like a tree
To bloom like a flower
And fade when it’s time.
But though we break
Into a million pieces
Disintegrated
Into dirt
Soil
Dust again
We shall be resurrected
Whole again
One body, one soul
One with Him again.
But as it is
God has placed
And arranged
The limbs
And organs
In the body
Each particular one of them
Just as He wished
And saw fit
And with the best
Adaptation.
For we know
That if the tent
Which is our earthly home
Is destroyed
Dissolved
We have from God
A building
A house not made with hands
Eternal in the heavens.
Here indeed
in this present abode
Body
We sigh
And groan inwardly
Because we yearn
To be clothed over
We yearn
To put on our celestial body
Like a garment
To be fitted out
With our heavenly dwelling.
There is one body
And one Spirit
Just as there is also one hope
That belongs
To the calling you received.
There is one Lord
One faith
One baptism
One God and Father of us all
Who is above all
Sovereign over all
Pervading all
And living in us all.