What would Jesus write?

 My mind is filled with stories to encourage and inspire,

To bring hope-filled words to others is a part of my desire.

Sometimes my words are private and sometimes I choose to share,

But the act of pouring out my heart feels often like a prayer.

The power of the written word is never lost on me.

I find I pause and wonder about Jesus' creativity.

If Jesus was a writer with a blank page and a pen, 

What words would He decide to write to women and to men?

Would He tell a simple story or record sweet poetry?

Would He use a gentle voice or perhaps a tone quite heavy?

Would the message be wrapped in humour, mystery, perhaps suspense?

Or would the medium He chose be equal to His presence?

Perhaps the lines and stanzas would be metered and precise.

Perhaps He’d choose a free verse to delight, entrance, entice.

Would Jesus write like Shakespeare, like Wordsworth, or Hemmingway?

Would His words compel the reader to repent, laugh, love, or pray?

Or would He forge a better path? One new and smart and bold.

With an incomparable style and form for His stories to be told. 

A way of crafting written tales much like those from when He lived,

Unlike anything that people had heard before or in time since.

There are so many questions as I wonder in this way,

And I make a few surmises about the way He’d spin the page.

But however Jesus would use the words, one thing I’m certain of

Is that the heart of all His stories would be of the greatest Love.

A love that conquered death and pain, that sacrificed for me.

And I’m sure that every word would be written for God’s glory.

I ponder on His potential words as I work and craft my own.

And I imagine that He’s smiles at me from there upon His throne.

And even though my Jesus did not choose to write as I,

I know that for our stories was the reason that He died. 

I pray that every word I share would be ordered from above,

And that every story would resound with echoes of His love.

• Chantal MacDonald

            (February 2024)