Pronouns: A Poem About Submitting to God

Who has authority in your life? Is it your parents, a sibling, a teacher, or a friend? Or is it God? Do you resist authority, or do you welcome it? It takes humility and trust to allow someone to guide you, especially if you feel like you can do it all on your own. However, humans need authority—yet we sometimes foolishly resist loving guidance. Karle Wilson Baker brilliantly talks about this in her poem “Pronouns.”

“Pronouns” by Karle Wilson Baker

The Lord said,

“Say ‘We’“;

But I shook my head,

Held my hands tight behind my back, and said,

Stubbornly,

“I.”

The Lord said,

“Say ‘We’”;

But I looked upon them, grimy and all awry,

Myself in all those twisted shapes? Ah, no!

Distastefully I turned my head away,

Persisting,

“They.”

The Lord said,

“Say ‘We’”;

And I,

At last,

Richer by a hoard

Of years

And tears,

Looked in their eyes and found the heavy word

That bent my neck and bowed my head;

Like a shamed schoolboy then I mumbled low,

“We,

Lord.”

Pronouns can pack a punch. They are such small, little words, but they can change entire sentences and speak louder than a whole paragraph. ‘We,’ ‘Me,’ ‘They,’ ‘Us,’ ‘You,’ ‘Mine,’ ‘It,’ and ‘I’ all have meanings that can change in a second depending on the way people use them. Karle Wilson Baker uses basic pronouns in a simple, heartfelt way to show how some people refuse to submit to God because they feel like they know how to lead their lives better and can do it all on their own.

In the first stanza, Baker depicts a person who selfishly refuses to accept God’s help in her life. This person deliberately refuses to submit to God’s perfect will and instead stubbornly decides to submit to her own imperfect will. Imagine having a conversation with God as if he’s your best friend, yet you turn him away. ‘The Lord said, / “Say ‘We’“; / But I shook my head, / Held my hands tight behind my back, and said, /  Stubbornly, /  “I.”’

In the second stanza we get a peek into another conversation between the Lord and this selfish person. However, this time God tries to show her how much she has been led astray and how much she is like everyone else, all twisted and imperfect. By turning him away and missing out on all she could have received, she has become “twisted, grimy, and awry.” Pridefully, she does not make the connection between “her” and “them.” For how could she be like them? How could she not be better than them? “Myself in all those twisted shapes? Ah, no!”  She still thinks she can lead her own life. She selfishly and pridefully puts herself first and God second. God has plans for our lives that are far better than we could ever imagine, but first we have to surrender, put our hands in his, and let him lead us.

Finally, in the third stanza, the Lord tries one final time to save his child; this time it is different because she is ready to submit. She has seen “years and tears” and she is “Richer by a hoard” because of it. She feels shamed because she realizes just how far she has strayed, how far she has run. How will God ever accept her? But she just has to say the simple word “we” and submit her heart to him, and he will gladly take the reins and make her his child. ‘And I, / At last, / … Looked in their eyes and found the heavy word /  That bent my neck and bowed my head; / Like a shamed schoolboy then I mumbled low, /  “We, /  Lord.”’

Ephesians 3:20 says “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us.” Baker portrays this verse beautifully in her poem. She touches on a hard topic, yet in the end we clearly see and understand this simple, loving conversation between the Maker and one of his children.

Image Credit: Unsplash

Works Cited

Baker, Karle Wilson. “Pronouns.” Themes In Literature, Pensacola Christian College, Inc, 2019