I Wish I Would Have Known
It had been a few months since I graduated from college when I pulled out an old notebook.
The months following graduation were strange.
A new city.
A new job.
A new apartment.
A new community.
A new church.
Everything was new.
And it was getting old.
As a friend and I were catching up, she asked me to write a devotion for an organization she was working for.
She asked me to share something that I wish I would have known while I was in high school.
I jotted down a few things.
And then a few more things.
And before I knew it the page was full.
Something about writing down all the things I wish I had known was cathartic.
A free therapy session.
I turned the list of things I wish I had known in high school into a poem.
The poem is called I Wish I Would Have Known.
This was one of the first poems I ever wrote.
And it shows.
And that’s okay.
Everyone starts somewhere.
This is where I started.
As I reflect on this poem there are many things I would change about it, but the heart of it remains.
I wish I would have been quicker to love.
I wish I would have been slower to speak.
I wish I would have known that it’s all about Jesus.
I wish I would have known about the power of my words, hands, and heart.
Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know.
Thank God for grace and growth.
I added this poem to the Extended Edition of I’m All Over the Place.
A little nod to the past.
A little step into the future.
With hope,
Tanner