The Shortcut of Shame
When something you have ordered
And nothing we have done,
The sting of disappointment
Can make you come undone,
For we have shown no honor
For your authority
And teaching us to listen
Is high priority.
I know you hope that someday
When we are on our own
We’ll own our moral duty
And serve God on his throne.
I know your motivation
Is holy and is pure,
But your approach results in
Shame I can’t endure.
The sigh of disappointment,
The sag of shoulders in,
Let me know I’ve failed you,
And caused you pain within.
And in that choking moment,
I do not think of ‘right.’
I think of what will please you,
And make you feel alright,
For if I do not fix you,
Fix damage I have caused,
I’ll never feel you love me
Or earn your proud applause.
But now that I am older
I’ve come to know within
My pull to please mere people
Is yet a pull to sin.
For people are not Jesus,
And He’s whom I obey,
But not to keep Him happy,
Not to avert dismay,
For He already loves me
In failure or success.
I move to Him in sorrow
When guilty, to confess.
And when I do dishonor
His holy, righteous Name,
He gives me consequences
And guilt, but never shame.
Although shame is a shortcut
To swift obedience
It shrinks what should be growing
And dulls my confidence.
For when each lack and failing
Removes more love from me
And I believe a natural
Consequence this be
I come to think I’m faulty,
That everyone who leaves
Is right to leave me hanging,
For our parental thieves
Stole from us what shouldn’t
Have cost success to buy:
A love that never leaves us,
A pride that cannot die.
To those who take this harshly,
I do not write to blame.
I know how swift and simple
The shortcut that is shame.
Creative consequences
Take time and energy
Devising and enforcing
But they will make us free:
Free to make bad choices,
Free to reap what’s sown.
Free to claim our victories,
Free to be our own.
2018
And nothing we have done,
The sting of disappointment
Can make you come undone,
For we have shown no honor
For your authority
And teaching us to listen
Is high priority.
I know you hope that someday
When we are on our own
We’ll own our moral duty
And serve God on his throne.
I know your motivation
Is holy and is pure,
But your approach results in
Shame I can’t endure.
The sigh of disappointment,
The sag of shoulders in,
Let me know I’ve failed you,
And caused you pain within.
And in that choking moment,
I do not think of ‘right.’
I think of what will please you,
And make you feel alright,
For if I do not fix you,
Fix damage I have caused,
I’ll never feel you love me
Or earn your proud applause.
But now that I am older
I’ve come to know within
My pull to please mere people
Is yet a pull to sin.
For people are not Jesus,
And He’s whom I obey,
But not to keep Him happy,
Not to avert dismay,
For He already loves me
In failure or success.
I move to Him in sorrow
When guilty, to confess.
And when I do dishonor
His holy, righteous Name,
He gives me consequences
And guilt, but never shame.
Although shame is a shortcut
To swift obedience
It shrinks what should be growing
And dulls my confidence.
For when each lack and failing
Removes more love from me
And I believe a natural
Consequence this be
I come to think I’m faulty,
That everyone who leaves
Is right to leave me hanging,
For our parental thieves
Stole from us what shouldn’t
Have cost success to buy:
A love that never leaves us,
A pride that cannot die.
To those who take this harshly,
I do not write to blame.
I know how swift and simple
The shortcut that is shame.
Creative consequences
Take time and energy
Devising and enforcing
But they will make us free:
Free to make bad choices,
Free to reap what’s sown.
Free to claim our victories,
Free to be our own.
2018