Thoughts

What started as a stroll on a balmy afternoon Turned quickly to a jog at dusk Before long, it evolved to a full sprint As night set in And the night kept coming Darker still Voices shined temporary light But once stilled, the dark returned Enveloping, surrounding, pressing down Moist walls on either side give not so much guidance As narrowed license Both the path and the air thins Until the valley in the heart begins to fill Slowly it fills Then horizon gleams in the distance Distant still Until the sun begins to rise Though there are moments when eyes close To keep the dark The sun cannot be moved Dark crumbles Shaken down Laying the foundation of a firmer path Then, when the light pierces through Warmth replaces loneliness Light replaces gloom An ascent from the valley Reveals patches of green On ground parched from thirst Until the green become ubiquity The valley reduced now to a pit A pit from which the traveler can choose to step And when tha

All its life the light turned ‘round Searching for what may be found From stationary cliff its beam Circumnavigated for its dream The rock from which that lighthouse shined Was made to elevate the mind Shouldering, bearing hope through night For those whose fears have cost their sight And all this time the lighthouse turned That heart-- unceasing light-- that burned For something there beyond the fog Convinced it stood in sodden sog For ne’er before did it look down To see that all beyond could drown This light that truly failed to see To learn what its true purpose be For in its hunt of sheer despair It did not stop or think to care This very light it shined and scanned Helped men through dark to find the land. I find that many times, as Christians, we look for a better life outside of the peaceful life we already possess, all the while failing to see how much others need to know the peace we have because of Jesus. The very talents we use to benefit ourselves

Loss is a trafficker of hope Hawking the familiar as a cloak that warms It whispers that it’s always warmer here And though it clothed us first, We look down to find our arms wrapped tight Loss dissembles in the night Posing as one’s only friend It trains us to believe that letting go That thrusting down the cloak Would leave us forlorn We believe, then, that all we have Is memory That angelic ghost That serpentine thread of thought That we refuse to exorcise That slithers through our mind and circles back again And we believe, then, That the unwrapping of arms would leave us cold Truth promises that we will stand cold For a time, but not forever For when we cast out the demon When we crush the serpent’s head When we drop that garment of despair We feel the breeze again And we break out of a well-worn pit To walk, then run Leaving behind the pile of pain And embracing true warmth It is then that we stand taller No longer stooped, Looking low, But ahea