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Keep your eyes on me.

Stay with me.

Don’t lose sight of me.

All these snares designed to distract you- don’t take their bait.

But the bait had already been taken and I was consumed by it.

Its bitterness reached every space inside of me and took control.

Its arms reached ’round me and welcomed me into its toxic embrace.

And my fallen nature found a home there. My nature became one with it.

A strange mix of externally targeted venom and internal self-loathing filled every part of me and spilled out of me.

It ate away at my heart with no consideration to the precious casualties that fell around me and within me.

Then Jesus called me out.

Stay with me, He said. I need you to stay with me.

That is not where your heart belongs.

That is not your home so don’t take refuge there.

Your home is a place that doesn’t count ills and hurts, doesn’t seek revenge, and doesn’t boast of its own worth.

Those shards of bitterness have no place here. There is nothing but love here.

Come, rest with me.