For so long have I struggled As I try to speak clearly and to hear As others laugh at me and joke I hide and from all contact in fear
Always different I have lived apart Getting by so alone and without Yet deeply longing to be with friends Yet get away! they all shout
Feeling I am offensive and so cursed I live without clear hearing or speech Thinking that I am sinful and offensive Because I am shunned and out of reach
I see disgust and fear in others’ eyes As they, in my defects see their sin And they push me away from themselves My heart aches from without and within
Now comes this Jesus, this man of God Who talks with saints and sinners today I long to be like others and to hear and to speak But in disgust they all push me away
But now leaving the crowd he seeks me out And looking deeply into my eyes With a look of love and a warm smile Reaches out and asks me gently to rise
My tears well up as I behold his face Seeing a presence I cannot ignore I can feel his power and his awesome love Beyond all I have ever felt before
With a holy gentleness and warmth He touches my very soul and my heart Opening my ears, freeing my tongue And from my inner prison I’m freed! No longer ever from others apart
Dear Jesus, I too humbly ask you today To bring clarity to my ears and my voice Help me to always listen with my heart To voices of others without judging That I may speak always with love And from your grace never part