Smoke And Scripture
Faith can be rebuilt without fear or shame.
I grew up with God like a hallway light
always on, always watching,
and somehow still
not warming anything.
﹁﹂
They taught me perfection in Sunday clothes,
pressed and smiling,
Sin counted like pennies
in a sweaty palm.
﹁﹂
So I learned to fear my own thoughts,
to swallow questions whole,
to call shame “conviction”
because it sounded holier.
﹁﹂
Now my faith looks different.
It looks like a candle on the counter
next to unpaid bills,
next to my meds,
Next to a dish I forgot to wash.
﹁﹂
Sometimes I pray with smoke in my lungs
burnt toast, incense,
the small honest mess of living
And I don’t ask to be spotless anymore.
﹁﹂
I open old pages
and the words don’t always land,
But sometimes one line
finds me like a hand on my shoulder.
﹁﹂
I’m rebuilding slow.
Not a cathedral,
just a shelter.
﹁﹂
A place where my grief is allowed,
where my body isn’t an enemy,
where love doesn’t require performance.
﹁﹂
If God is here,
Maybe He isn’t demanding.
Maybe He’s patient.
Maybe that’s the miracle I missed.
About the Creator
Milan Milic
Hi, I’m Milan. I write about love, fear, money, and everything in between — wherever inspiration goes. My brain doesn’t stick to one genre.
Keep reading
More stories from Milan Milic and writers in Poets and other communities.
It's 2026. Songs Turning 10 This Year
In 2016, we saw the rise of short form videos and what would lead to the birth of TikTok. We cannot forget the Snapchat filters no matter how cringe worthy some of them might have been. It was also the year in which the hit series Stranger Things debuted.
By Jasmine Aguilar4 days ago in Beat
Comments (2)
I know this feeling all too well, if there is a God, then mine is patient, kind, accepting, understanding and not at all fear inducing. Thank you for sharing!
"It looks like a candle on the counter ,next to unpaid bills, next to my meds ". This is so real and raw and beautiful Milan. Genuinely wow. I love this.