the scathing & the ripping

it's the scathing and the ripping that brings us to the honesty of our flesh.

the limits to our existence.

it's the deep pain and destruction all around and within us.

it's the mess of my soul and mind becoming intertwined with my outerworld, inevitably and intrinsically affecting everything about me.

meshing down in the synapses of my brain. because that's just how deep it goes.

see, the pain, it echoes. it echoes into every area of my life.

every insecurity. every lie.

into every relationship. into every lap I allow my head to lie in.

every conversation. the hard ones really bringing up what lies beneath the surface.

it's raw.

it's raw n real.

it's the stench of a wound as it heals.

it's the unpeeling of an onion that makes you cry.

it's the unpeeling of every layer of you that must be cut in order for God to remove what is making you sick.

so that he may unveil the most healed & whole you. just as my sides were bruised and beaten, nails in both hands with my wounds flailing, concerns burning.

why is an innocent man named Jesus up there?

It's the scathing and the ripping that brings us to the honesty of his death.

our flesh. of the ways our divine came to fix what's misaligned and align it with the reality of His existence.

A reality that is all too real, am I right?

a reality that has altered space and time.

I thank you for the deep pain and destruction that has led you to a place of reconstruction.

If you think about it, God, you weren't scared to rebuild and reconstruct. to tear the veil and allow your goodness to erupt out of human flesh wrapped in your Son, Jesus.

it's from the scathing we see the Son. it's from the scars we see the Son.

it's from the ripping you call us to repentance.

to rip away our preconceived notions and set our eyes on that day of commotion.

Commotion and chaos, that day of the cross.

our Savior crucified. scathed for the sake of us. crushed for our iniquities.

threshed for our proclivities.

commotion and crucifixion.

the sign of our religion.

the symbol, the signifier of our beliefs signifying the belief from which our behavior breathes.

It is only in the scathing that we recognize our need for the one who was ripped apart on Calvary.