Shame

I have been thinking about shame and why it is a normal result to something abnormal, and why it seems to be coming out sideways in our lives, in our words, in our feelings, in our relationships and in our very own bodies. I think we have forgotten what shame is, why it occurs, how to respond to it and who we can give it to. We are not perfect. We are going to feel shame when we do things that are not right good and true. Instead of demonizing shame, let’s give it the truth and love it deserves and needs -so we receive mercy and forgiveness, and we can move forward to live as we are designed to be healthy, whole, holy and human.

Shame

Where is our shame?
Is it lost?
Hidden in the fig leaves
To avoid at all cost?

Do we use God’s gifts
For such a dangerous thing
To defend and distract us
From our shame?

Have we forgotten shame’s face
Is but a reflection of our disgrace?
Do we refuse to look and see
And deny ourselves grace?

Do we now call shame by another name
Like depression, anxiety or rage
Have we buried it with busyness
Or locked it in hubris’s cage?

In the darkness did we give it
What it needed to grow
Were we fools to think
We had it under control?

Have we tried to explain it away
With philosophy and reason
Maybe even pop psychology
Worked quite nicely for a season.

But seriously, where was our shame
When we made not a sound
As the idols of this world were lifted up
And our heads and hearts bowed down

Were we not aware
Of our lust and greed
Begging for comfort and security
Watching lies choke out truth’s seed.

Did we shut our eyes
And just open our mouths
Not to speak peace or kindness
But regurgitate the serpent’s sounds.

Is shame not the fruit
Of judgment and lies
Can we not see our truths
With sin’s beam in our eyes.

How did we come to think
That shame wasn’t produced
When we had gone the wrong way
Because we were seduced.

Along with arrogance, ignorance
Gluttony and pride
In death’s shadows
Do our lives now hide?

Do we refuse to give shame
The time and the place
To look at it
Right in the face?

Remember shame has no power
Unless we deny
To lift up our heads
And open our eyes.

It points exactly at what we need
To make peace with our mistakes and sins
To receive mercy and forgiveness
To heal shame’s injured skin.

Shame is a result
Of Truth working properly
To say something’s wrong
An injury has occurred
Pain won’t stop speaking
Until it is heard.

Shame is a shadow that covers love
Hiding our abuse
And our misuse
Keeping us perpetually
Scared and confused
Which we must pretend
Doesn’t exist
As we are hardened
Losing sight and sound
Of the love that’s waiting patiently
To come down and surround
Us and our shame
And bind our wounds
By healing our hearts
Love answers shame’s cries
By going right where it starts.

Love takes shame
into its divine arms
Speaks with it gently
Acknowledging the harms.

Love knows shames burden is heavy
It cannot be carried by us
It must be handed over
To someone we know and trust.

Love knows shame is warning us
That we cannot become our best
Until it is given both truth and love
So it can be laid to rest.

Shame is not bad
When we know what it can do
Which is to say “I need help…
Now lead me fast and straight to truth!”

December 4, 2020
DeeAnn Dean