A Carpenter's Work

I wish I was a faster learner
But no, I stubbornly want to learn my own way
Which always ends up being the hard way


When we started this process
I did not know it would take this long
nor did I know it would be this painful


Your Presence was so big it did not fit
There was no where for it to go
Because I was already full of other things


But you began to chip, whittle and carve away


The first things out were the last things in
They were soft and easy to remove


But the more you cut away
the harder and more painful it became
Until You reached the petrified layers
things that had been there for years, even generations


This is a slow, agonizing process
But each time you carve out a clean space
Your Presence rushes in to fill the hollow
until eventually all I will hold is You
I thought I was becoming
But really it is You being


So until You complete this work
pain and loss is gain
Decrease becomes increase
Mourning becomes joy
And I am taking shape
Yours