What Our Layers Must Mean

We are so layered, each of us.

For God to really know us,

it means He’s gutted out the corners.

He’s nursed the open wounds,

tended to the scabs,

wiped clean every dirty surface.

He’s moistened the cracks

and given life to the barrenness.

He’s called the dark to light,

huddled close the tear-stained cheek,

kissed the tired brow.

For God to know us must mean

that He knows the tender places,

the hidden places,

the desperate places.

For God to know us,

it means every layer is

peeled back to the skin

that once lay balled up

in the beginning,

the soul that started as a small

flicker in a weary, revolving world.

For God to really know us,

it must mean that

God really wants us,

every form we’ve ever been

or will be.

Hallelujah, from the deepest layer.