THE PLACE WHERE LOVE IS BORN

  

We came together broken, each carrying his own,  

A thousand selfish wishes, a heart of hardened stone.  

We thought we'd find the Creator somewhere in the skies,  

But He was waiting patiently between our blinded eyes.

We lived our lives in searching, through pleasure, grief, and pain,  

Through wives and sons and daughters, through sunshine and the rain.  

Yet everything we gathered, and everything we'd known,  

Revealed a deeper hunger that none could fill alone.

We came to love our brothers, but found our hearts were cold,  

Our pride was worth a fortune, yet our love was cheaply sold.  

We spoke of love and giving, while calculating gain,  

And wondered why our prayers returned unanswered once again.

We pointed at each other, at everything they'd done,  

Until we saw the enemy was hiding in each one.  

Not in the hearts of others, nor somewhere far away,  

But in the selfish nature that we battle every day.

And every crack between us, each wound we learn to see,  

Becomes a place to ask for love, for what we long to be.  

For none can build the Shechina with selfish hands alone,  

It rises from our common prayer, where hearts become as one.

So let me bow before you, my brothers of the Ten,  

And when my pride comes roaring, I'll bow to you again.  

Not because I'm worthy, not because I'm strong,  

But because without your loving hearts, I'll never move along.

We do not seek perfection, nor crowns upon our heads,  

We seek the love of others, where our selfish nature dreads.  

And when we find we're helpless, with nothing left to give,  

We turn toward the Creator, who teaches us to live.

For lowly is the creature, yet glorious is the call,  

To build a place between us where His love embraces all.  

Not ten separate wishes, each pleading to be free,  

But one united longing for the love we cannot see.

So break this heart of selfishness, but leave its fire alive,  

And turn its burning hunger toward the friends for whom we strive.  

Let every breath be given, let every prayer be true,  

Until the love between us reveals the One in You.

We came together broken, but now we understand,  

The Creator brought us here to take each other's hand.  

For where our hearts surrender, where selfish wishes cease,  

The Shechina finds a dwelling, and our souls discover peace.

**We did not come to find Him in some distant world above,  

We came to build the vessel where He reveals His love.**