Catechism 8

(Detail from "Moses" by Rembrandt van Rijn)

What is the law of God stated in the Ten 
Commandments?
You shall have no other gods before me. You 
shall not make for yourself an idol in the form 
of anything in heaven above or on the earth 
beneath or in the waters below – you shall not 
bow down to them or worship them. You shall not 
misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember 
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your 
father and your mother. You shall not murder. 
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not 
steal. You shall not give false testimony. 
You shall not covet.
(New City Catechism)

So we begin
    acknowledging
what clutching hands at apple trees do not know:
    accepting that there is Someone
        much higher than the heights of all
    our striving and our pride.

Bow down before
    no other god:
not what your hands have wrought or what you 
                                     desire,
    not that which eyes find pleasing nor
         what beauty holds out towards you
    or serves your present aims.

The depths are yours
    to plumb, to swim,
yet all within is His. The water’s mirror
    shines back to you your face; do not
         mistake creature for Creator
    or love sea more than Son.

Heart humble and
    contrite, know the
joy of boundaries set out by love. The waters
    stay where He commands; so we too
        can rest within parameters
    carved deep with mercy’s law.