Be the Bridge

A note from the Church & Marketplace network staff:
We encourage you to use this poem to practice the rhythm of action and reflection by yourself or in community with others–whether that is in a small group, or Sunday morning worship, or shared online with friends and colleagues. We hope this poem will be a creative avenue for continued whole-life discipleship.

My mother always told me,
That a life of leadership would be one of the hardest
That a life set apart was not an easiest route
That when there is a calling on your life—
it will not look the same as everyone else’s

And for so long, I tried to fit into norm of everyone else
and quickly learned that was not a space I was made to fit within
I felt heavy and bombarded with carrying weights of this world
That not everyone deemed important

I’ve always wondered,
What does it mean to be salt and light when I found myself
In a shaker with everyone who looked like me
talked the way I talked, believed mostly what I believed

How does one be salt and light
when the light only surrounds itself with other lights?

what good is a gospel, if it doesn’t spread?
If it doesn’t seep underneath the doors of all the places people say that it cannot go
If it does not make a home in the darkest of corners

And what good is a Christian– if all they do is exchange christian lingo,
with their christian friends in their christian community ?
sit within four walls and forget that the church —
the church is mostly outside the walls
Sitting on street corners, in coffee shops, in workplaces

The church is where two or more are gathered
And yet we save our light for Sunday mornings,
ignore the people in the cubicles next to us
And live everyday holding in light that was not meant for us to keep

The speed of light in a vacuum is defined to be exactly
two hundred ninety nine million
seven hundred ninety two thousand,
four hundred fifty eight miles per second

In the darkest of places,
there is always light that sometimes we miss
maybe too fast for our human eyes to see
or maybe we forget,
that the creator of the universe has embodied it within our very being,
within our very breath, within these hands and these feet

the main source of light on this earth — is the sun
so it is no wonder why we are meant to be a human reflection of Jesus himself

On earth as it is in heaven
Has not been accomplished quite yet and all that means is we still have work to do
Kingdom enhancing, hell shattering work to do

Work that can only begin when we step outside of our comfort zones
and dare to be bridges
Fill the gaps between reconciliation and a world consumed with war
Fill the gaps between secular and religious
Fill the gap between them and us
Because there is no them and us there is only we

And we have been put on this earth to embody Christ
in every environment that we step in
As doctors, educators, public service professionals

We fill the gaps between called and qualified
And at the end of the day?
At the end of the day,
we are all grasping a purpose that has had our name
written on them from before we ever took our first breath

And at the end of the day, we may not feel very qualified
But thats the beauty of being called, we just get to say yes and God does the rest
Beckoning us to the edge of our comfort zones so that he can make his name known

When we say yes, we dare to place intention and beauty
and excellence and broken-hearted honesty into these crafts
Perform them well, love people without them even knowing they are being loved

We cannot do this alone,
As one body we will work together
Every hand, every foot, every ear and every heart
to make on earth as it is in a heaven a reality
Even up until our very last breath

And everyday,
God whispers at two hundred ninety nine million
seven hundred ninety two thousand,
four hundred fifty eight miles per second
And urges us to wake up each day
be orchestrators of the light
Because when it’s done well,
When we seek to make his name known—
the light, the light will speak for itself.

Arielle Estoria Leda Wilburn was born and raised in foggy Northern California. She is a Spoken Word Artist, Blogger, Speaker and Creative Curator. The heartbeat behind her work is a diligent pursuit of instilling and reminding people of their worth through words. Arielle has spoken at universities such as Azusa Pacific University, Cal State Fullerton and UCLA as well as conferences in the California area and beyond. Her first collaboration book of poetry, Vagabonds and Zealots is available on Amazon.com.

Arielle’s new EP called Symphony of a Lioness is now available on iTunes or Apple Music.