I Am The Great Sun

I am the great sun

From a Normandy crucifix of 1632

I am the great sun, but you do not see me,
I am your husband, but you turn away.
I am the captive, but you do not free me,
I am the captain you will not obey.

I am the truth, but you will not believe me,
I am the city where you will not stay.
I am your wife, your child, but you will leave me.
I am that God to whom you will not pray.

I am your counsel, but you do not hear me,
I am your lover whom you will betray,
I am the victor, but you do not cheer me,
I am the holy dove whom you will slay.

I am your life, but if you will not name me,
Seal up your soul with tears, and never blame me.

- Charles Causley

This poem deals with the profound resistance to seeing what is going on.

Some people resist God by haughtily saying that it is just a concept created by man to explain the unexplainable - as in "I am the captive, but you do not free me", while others resist Him because they desire to throw off any sense they have of a God who wants to control their lives, just wanting to do their own thing, as in "I am the captain you will not obey"

The appeal in the last two lines is that there are so many ways in which God reveals Himself to us - He wants to be known, even if we can only know in part, and it is for us to "name" Him, to identify Him in what ever feature of nature or relationship we can. How do we know Him, recognize Him? By what appeals to our love, our compassion, what stirs our soul, what is the very source of our life.

This photo captures the first line of the poem - "the great sun", taken in the morning as we drove through the breathtakingly beautiful North and then South Carolina highways lined with forests.

We spent a short night at Josiah and Erin's and had breakfast with them and Erin's parents, who were also visiting at the time. Then we had to press on, knowing there was a long drive ahead before we reached home.