Grace

Grace doesn't treat us better than we deserve. It treats us without the slightest reference to what we deserve. Grace ceases to be grace if God withdraws it upon any human failure. If Grace is in any way tied to something you do, then it is no longer a gift but a wage, and that's not grace. ~ Paul Donnan

I'll pay my own way, thank you.
I need no help, can rely on me
and if I trust you I can be crushed,
can suffer humiliation by your excellence,
how you make me look inept, worthless.
Not that I have worth, just that you
need not know that, need not have power
by seeing me as I am inside, hidden,
the filthy part. You offer great gifts,
things I crave, everything I could want
since my wants tend to be about me,
about people, about excellence.
But I can't stand to accept them
for – don't you see? —
accepting them makes me look less
since I could never have earned them.
What? It's offered to everybody,
free, for the taking? If I take it
nobody's deprived of it,
nobody will use this gift you give me
if I don't? It's individual to me
and to every individual?
Well, I might could take that, God.
Are you sure?