Woman of Samaria

We shame her.

We call her a sinner.

But we don’t understand her story.

We don’t know the life she’s lived,

    the ones she’s lost,

    the loneliness she feels. 

The one to whom she was married 

died too soon.

Then his brother, 

    his brother,

    his brother, 

    and his brother, too.

Now where does she belong?

From where will her worth come?

We shame her.

We call her a sinner.

But then 

someone speaks.

Someone tells her, 

  reminds her, 

everything 

she has ever done;

    all of the good, all of the bad;

    all of the struggles, all of the pain;

    all of the laughter, all of the tears.

Someone sees her.

There is no shame.

Just a reminder

that she has been seen;

    an assurance of pardon,

    a word of acceptance,

    a spring of living water 

      that will never run dry.

Her one beautiful life

has not been for naught.

She has been seen.

Her truth is known,

and it is life 

springing up from within.

- bshivers