073-03

Forgiveness is not
A grudging discount
It is paid in full
And given
Like someone
Who cannot stop giving

And behind the gift
There is a plan
Not a secret to exclude you
A secret now told

Nothing stays scattered
Everything in heaven
Everything on earth
Every broken piece
Every loose end
Gathered up
Into one whole
Not erased
Gathered

The fragments are not
Swept away
Like debris
They are picked up
One by one
Because each of them
Belongs somewhere

A plan that gathers
Has already decided
That nothing
Is written off
Not the failed years
Not the broken threads
Not you

Everything in heaven
Everything on earth
Every broken piece
Every loose end
Gathered up
Into one whole
Not erased
Gathered

The direction of history
Is not the drain
It is the table
Where everything
Is set in its place