Asked of Me

God asks questions. He asked Hagar where she was going, Jacob what his name was, Peter whether he loved Him. He asks because He wants the answer from the man’s own mouth, not because He doesn’t know it. This poem asks you one of them first — Hagar’s: Where have you come from, and where are you going? — and you answer it as your story moves: where you came from, the names you lived under, what you wanted, what He asked you at the turn, who He is to you, and where you are going now. Three times along the way the second half of her question comes back, and where you were going is yours to say each time. Each line starts for you and you finish it in your own words. Six more of His questions wait along the way, and once, near the end, He answers you by name. The references are at the foot so you can go back to each one.

Answer plainly, the way you would to someone who already knows. The middle goes into hard ground on purpose. Near the end the poem turns around: He stops asking about you and asks who He is to you. You can stop at any part and come back; Save keeps your place.

Or write it by hand. Print the worksheet — the same twenty-two lines on paper, with every question and its stem. Fill it in over a week at the kitchen table if you like, then type it in here when it is finished.

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