In collaboration with @thewildabide a shop and community for their annual No Shame November Campaign, I wrote this poem to encourage and bring hope to a conversation that tends to feel so heavy and daunting.

For more about the Wild Abide and what they’re about you can find out here!

This year, I’ve been intentionally sitting and exploring the concept of shame, finding the root of it individually but then also exploring this systemic weight of shame that women specifically tend to carry. Shame in these bodies, in these voices and overall existence. One thing I keep coming back to is that Shame is stemmed in lies and whenever I get caught up in the lies, I remind myself to “find the truth”. Find the truth of who you are, the fullness of your identity in who you say you are but ultimately who God says you are: so so loved and valuable.

I wrote this poem to dive more into the concept of no shame, I know that it will probably be one of many! Take a read, take a listen and enjoy!

When Adam and Eve took the first bite of fruit,

all hell did not immediately break loose

 instead it eased itself into a coat of fear and covered the garden 

Shame showed up, made its camp at the feet of them both 

and has made home in our world, in our hearts, in our minds ever since

When Adam and Eve took the first bite of fruit,

fiery comets did not fall

Instead a nagging sensation in their spirits 

poked and prodded at the “good and very good”

spoken over them moments before

Shame and fear danced around them in a frenzy 

only to settle by hovering over them,

“Who told you that you were naked?” God asked

I could almost hear the hurt crack in His voice when he asks this 

as if to say, “where did this shame come from? 

This wasn’t supposed to be part of the story.”

Shame was never meant to be part of the story 

Shame was never meant to be part of our story 

See this act of self love is not an act of worldly rebellion

It is a small attempt at reuniting ourselves back to our creator

It is a rewinding of identity, unraveling shame and fear from our lungs

Keeping us choked up

Keeping us stuck in where we were

Keeping us frozen in complacency

instead of walking boldy in what we’ve been created for,

fullness, a garden of fruition, of plans blooming and prosperous

We were not made for shame or fear

We were not made to be silenced or small

He says, I knit you together in your mother’s womb

which means everything I did was on purpose

To show you that you have purpose

Intricate and intentionally destined purpose

whispered into your existence so that fear could not win

and if these poems are reminders of freedom 

from a shame we were never meant to live in,

then I will do whatever it takes  

To unwind the shame with every poem, with every song, with every post.

See shame was never meant to be part of the story

shame was never meant to be part of your story

and if this is what it means to walk in freedom, an unshackled existence in who we are,

then I will stand a little bit taller, I will walk a little bolder because shame was not meant to be part of my story.