Trading Places

Trading Places
By Marilyn Mackenzie





If you were me and I were you
For just a day we could trade,
If your place was mine and mine was yours
Would we learn enough in a day?

Would that much time allow me to
Discover what’s in your heart?
Would I learn all that makes you who
You’ve been right from the start?

When we changed back would we again
Retain all the knowledge we gained?
Would we remember the hurts, the joys
Of each life, and of the pain?

They say to walk in someone’s shoes
Before you critique or judge.
You have to understand deep down
Before you can share and give love.

The real world says I can’t be you
And you cannot become me.
But we know One who knows us both,
And understands just how we’ll be.

If we both share a love of God,
If each knows and loves His Son,
It just follows that we’ll offer love
And deep understanding will come.

Then why is it that folks complain
About those who profess to love Him?
Will others ever want to embrace
A faith that allows us this Sin?

It seems to me our focus should be
To love God, His Son and our kin,
Our kin being all the children of God
Our arms should welcome them in.

Their lives are not for us to judge
That’s left to the Father above.
Our only task is to gather the flock,
And to offer each other His love.