Me Without You

Found this in an archive of unpublished notes I wrote years ago. Praise God for His grace and forgiveness.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

It’s funny, the love songs people write about how they would be “without” their lover. Miserable, incomplete, dejected, defective, yeah. The adjectives ramble on. I’ve been thinking lately about the demolition and reconstruction God’s been doing in my life, and sometimes I entertain the scary thought of “what would I be like without Him?” I know myself well enough to answer honestly…

I would be as “free” as the salty ocean
But I’d drown in my own pride
I would put on a show, I wouldn’t go slow
But after night I’d run and hide

I’d be the height of culture’s fashion
With unfounded, null morale
I’d dress to impress, passing all their tests
Flaunt my selfish rationale

The music in my ears would keep straight with the beat
Of a lonely people living low on the Easy Street
I’d dance to the rhythm of the party crowd
And ignore Your sweet whisper with my speakers loud

The words of my own choice
Would have no timbre like Your voice
I would lie to get my way
Well, a “white lie” as they say

I’d reach the nirvana of society
Which would just be, simply, empty
Nothing satisfactory
How can I fill “me” with “me”?

I’d be a hollow bottle
I’d be a broken vase
There’d be nothing left to take of me
But the tears upon my face

Yet You took me, knowing all this
You didn’t leave me stranded
You chose to show me, that without You
There was so much I would miss

So I say good-bye to my selfish schemes
To my pathetic, fleeting, useless dreams
To my thoughts of fame and worldly gain
I surrender to the cross and Your selfless pain

For there is no me without You
You breathed life into this dying shell
You put Heaven in my thirsty soul
You kidnapped me from Hell

Jesus loves me, this I know
Oh, so simply true
Your love gives life—how great this life!
And there is no me without You