Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. (Malachi 3:2, NRSV)

Who am I fooling?

How can I even begin to hide?

For you will strip me bare when you come,

searing through self-image and pretense like a fire,

like a scalding bath in lye, scrubbed raw by the vigilant fuller

until nothing remains but my vulnerable, limited self —

no longer caught up in who I strive to be, but

attuned to how God is calling me to be

and willing to be woven

into a new work.