I’ve been tuned in to the Sermon on the Mount

Trying to love my enemies and turn the other cheek

But I’ve dropped the ball more times than I can count

For example: Yesterday I was interrupted in the workplace and told, “You look like you just got back from a water park”

I was appalled at that man’s remark

But I didn’t gamble – I just kept on talking about insulin

I tried to forget about the man’s insolence

I couldn’t smile, I was pressed for time

I couldn’t go another mile with him

No, I was busy choking him out in my mind

His words conjured up others that other people have said

How are humans so cruel

It fills me with dread

People have told me I’m too skinny

I’ve climbed down the ladder of condescending

The insults I’ve been dealt are many

As if I am what I wear

Or that my worth is in my hair

I’m not playing the victim card

Just remembering

Words from the tongue reflect the heart

Egregious acts are birthed in the thought

Name-calling and gossip are not benign

Curse-for-curse won’t change anyone’s mind

Are your eyes fixed where they ought

What’s in the chambers of your heart

What’s in the webs of your psyche

Learn the Sermon on the Mount

You’ll see it’s frightening

More wisdom there than you know

I see there’s a lot of things I have to let go

To subvert the hatred and an idolatrous nation

To embrace those who are cruel to me

How can I turn my cheek

How do I go the distance

And wash my enemy’s feet

Perhaps love is in effect a resistance

To change the world

Let the kingdom come to the peacemakers and the meek

Have my coat

As I do my job and pay my taxes

As I vote

As I drive

As I do anything

Till sin’s grip relaxes

And the kingdom comes

Till the insults and curses are undone

I pray for that man who was mean

But I myself am not blameless

I am a queen

Of excuses and hypocrisy

Of tainted truces and everything in between

So I meditate on the Sermon on the Mount

Of its wisdom and truth I have no doubt

Can I follow the speaker

Let the words sink deeper

Clean out the chambers

Plant new seeds

Silence hate’s clamor

Brush the cobwebs

Help us do what You said

You and I know so well – it’s what we desperately need