Given

Religion is often practiced

"winner-take-all."

   Institutional giving has

   a difficult time untangling

   all attached strings, primarily because

   it operates on a model

   of self-sustainability,

   if not self-sufficiency.

      The current generation

      never quite trusts the one

      coming down the road,

      perhaps because it felt

      the same betrayal in its youth.

   Faith is not about taking at all.

   It wins when all is given away;

   its strings woven into a net

   that lies beneath,

   rather than around.

It is the place where generations

recognize the only hope for enduring

is reliance on something greater

than self or progeny.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins