looks will be enough.
please make me beautiful.
a car will be enough.
please make me a car.
a house will be enough.
please make me a house.
a job will be enough.
please make me successful.
a spouse will be enough.
please make me a marriage.
a child will be enough.
please make me a family.
recognition will be enough.
please make me popular.
knowledge will be enough.
please make me smart.
wisdom will be enough.
please make me wise.
…but
nothing will be enough.
so please, make me nothing
24 comments
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April 25, 2008 at 11:15 pm
William
Dang! That end freakin’ got me! That was awesome.
April 25, 2008 at 11:49 pm
lazrus2
Great ending (and it really is what’s required, isn’t it–coming to the ‘end of ourselves’??).
It also immediately reminded me of a Bebo Norman song. Here are the lyrics:
Take these hands and lift them up
For I have not the strength to praise You near enough
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
Take my voice and pour it out
Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
Chorus:
All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You
Take my body and build it up
May it be broken as an offering of love
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
But I love You
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And all the strength I can find
All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
I have nothing
Take my time here on earth
And let it glorify all that You are worth
For I am nothing, I am nothing, I am nothing without You
Bebo Norman - Nothing Without You
From the album Try
Thanks for the always needed reminder!
D-
April 26, 2008 at 8:40 am
ric booth
Hey Bill: Cool. It hit me too!
D: Thanks for the song lyrics. I like
I wonder if Bebo is related to Larry…
April 27, 2008 at 3:39 pm
1godsgal
I’ll tell ya Ric, those times when I feel like I have nothing is really when I realize my everything is Him. How faithful He is to bring us back to nothing if we forget??? This is great!
April 27, 2008 at 5:51 pm
ric booth
Hey Deb, thanks!
April 28, 2008 at 2:52 am
lovewillbringustogether
He is the First AND The Last - From Nothing to Everything and everything in between…
WE are a minute part of Him but spend too much time trying to BE Him - to replace Him with all of ‘us’
We can never be nothing for He did not make us to be such - we are His Creation and we should all recognise the Glory He gave to us - but learn how it attempts to surpass Him (impossible in anything but our own mind!) through purely ’selfish’ acts - it is the ’self’ we are to make Less so that He is More to us and our ‘need’ to follow Him.
Make my self as nothing before You! That all i am may BE you.
But that was what you MEANT really - right?
<B
April 28, 2008 at 7:31 am
ric booth
I love it when people ‘get’ me. Less of me. Empty me.
April 28, 2008 at 10:52 am
lovewillbringustogether
<R = 1 ??
meeting of like minds can be a blessing to both - and to Him.
<B
April 28, 2008 at 3:30 pm
angelbearoh
And yet, my pride gets so irritated at being nothing! It’s such a hard thing to ask God for. I feel so upside down and backwards compared to what God wants from me.
I think I’m allowed to ask for a few things. Like a chance to enjoy life, and not have to worry about not having enough money to satisfy the hands stuck out at me. That’s not too much to ask, I don’t think.
April 28, 2008 at 3:50 pm
ric booth
Asking is encouraged in many places in the bible. My thoughts here speak to the motivation behind the asking. That is, seeking to satisfy our hearts with the provisions of God.
And I think we are always allowed to ask. What is too much, I cannot say. But I believe God enjoys any and all conversations we open up with Him.
April 28, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Darla
I love reading your poetry Ric! I have always loved this stuff, and it is always 100 times better when you know that there is a heart involved..love it!
have you ever checked out.. http://www.wreckedfortheordinary.com
they have an awesome web page, but there is an Arts section and weekly has a poem…I thought of you when I was reading it…i did leave a message for the director dude that I loved his, and he should check you out!
April 28, 2008 at 9:13 pm
samwrites2
Ric,
Howdy!
Just wanted to say nice poem.
I keep seeing your comments at a lot of other sites I go to so I figured why not visit yours?
And we’re in the same time zone - 50 miles from each other if going from Sterling, Va. to Crofton, Md.
-Sam
April 28, 2008 at 9:27 pm
ric booth
Darla: Thanks for the encouragement and for the tip. I checked out the site and rather like it. I sent the editor an email with a link to my poetry page. Thanks again.
samwrites2: Howdy! Yeah, we’re close. I sometimes go to poetry open mic in DC and may go to the Bus Boys & Poets in Arlington sometime soon. If you’d like to see and hear it sometime, its a whole new experience. (see http://ricbooth.wordpress.com/2008/03/17/my-friend-b-b-bistro/ ) Thanks for coming by Sam!
April 28, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Randomonium and random thoughts « Samwrites2’s Weblog
[...] Michelle relays what love is here … http://considerjesus.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/true-love/ and Ric Booth makes us ponder craving everything here … http://ricbooth.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/craving-everything/ . [...]
April 29, 2008 at 4:30 am
anita
Ric, that was really powerful centering poem/prayer. I especially loved Godgal’s response.
No-thing and no-one will ever be enough but God and all that God brings to and through our lives is more than enough. Much more.
It also brings to mind the house I once lived in and had filled with so many things. Just nicky-nacky junkie things people tend to collect over time. There was hardly a square foot of empty wall space and every shelf, counter, and table top was crowded with clutter. Fast forward to now. Our current living room is simply decorated with only the barest of nicky-nacky things. Plenty of empty space on all the table surfaces and two walls with nothing but a layer of paint. People who stop by always comment on how warm and inviting our home is, how homey it feels. I don’t remember hearing that about my first home. I wonder if it’s more inviting because there’s more room and less clutter, that the emptiness/openness leaves room for them rather than forcing them to dance around my clutter.
Perhaps it’s a weak metaphor but when I’m emptied of all the extras my life, the things I want or the things I think I need or should be, there’s comes an openness or emptiness to my life that makes room for God’s Spirit and this in turn invites people to experience something of more eternal substance than all the tangible and not-so-tangible clutter I’m tempted to seek and gather into myself.
Okay, now I’m sure it’s a weak metaphor, which I beg excuse on the late hour in which I’m writing
April 29, 2008 at 7:18 am
ric booth
Anita, I like your metaphor. I may use it in a poem someday! Thanks for the encouragement. And I do think of this as more of prayer than poem. I am amazed when I see where something I’ve written takes people, like Godsgal and you.
April 29, 2008 at 7:37 pm
nate
Hi Ric,
I think this poem is amazing. I am no critic…I am far from talented/informed when it comes to poetry, but I think it sums up the wrong way in which I frequently approach God…besides the end, of course. I subscribed to your blog.
Peace!
Nate
April 29, 2008 at 8:19 pm
ric booth
Hi Nate! Welcome! I’m glad this poem spoke to your heart. Blessings Bro.
May 3, 2008 at 6:37 am
jeffsdeepthoughts
Thanks for sharing that.
It brought to mind that 60’s (I think) song that was sung (I think) by Joan Baez. The one that goes “Lord won’t you buy me/ a Mercedez Benz/ my friends all have Porche’s/ I must make a-mends/”… Unlike this song you of course do more than just lampoon materialism masquerading as spirituality but take us to what we should be longing for.
May 3, 2008 at 6:58 am
ric booth
Hey Jeff, Welcome. Thanks for sharing where this poem/prayer took you. Keep chasing after Him.
May 19, 2008 at 12:56 pm
William
Paul of Tarsus is one of my favorite authors.
May 19, 2008 at 3:35 pm
ric booth
For some reason this posted under ‘Craving Everything.’ This happened once before too… I reported it to WordPress but oh well.
Yes, I also enjoy John’s poems (the beloved disciple) and the red-letter poet.
June 14, 2008 at 9:37 am
brainteaser
I
just
love
it.
The
ending
especially.
Thanks for sharing!
June 14, 2008 at 6:18 pm
ric booth
Hi Brainteaser and welcome! I am glad you love it! Thank you.