It is, in Pardoning ...

"It is in pardoning that we are pardoned."

How can I, God of mercy,
How can I humble myself
To seek Thy forgiveness
If I am haughty enough to demand retribution
From my neighbor?
How can I seek pardon,
Guilty as I am,
If I withhold it from one who has offended me?
Is there not one entry way to my soul for
That which flows in and 
That which flows forth?
If I close down the outflow of mercy,
How can I drink of its inflow?
God of love, I am a stained as anyone.
I am as needy as the most despicable and defiled.
You, who knows and sees all and
Sees my heart,
You know how dark it can be in there when
The lights go out.
I cannot live in the dark and,
It is in the dark,
The bleak and cold dark where I ...
Seek only justice and revenge for myself ...
It is in the dark where I delight in
The pain of my enemy and 
The defeat of those who seek my defeat.
I cannot live in such darkness.
It is in the dark where I, who with my lips,
Seek pardon,
Refuse it for there is one word,
Just One,
Just one word of acceptance or refusal ...
For myself and for my neighbor.
It is either "Yes" or "No,"
And it covers us both.
Cover me, Oh God of giddy grace,
With rose pedals of yeses!
Cover me with snowflakes of mercy and
Forgiveness.
Cover my face with smiles for my nemeses that they may be
My soon friends.
Cover my darkness with light and
Obliterate the darkness of bitterness and
Anger with
The bright, sparkling, shiny glow
of Love.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen and
Amen.