Tuning In

Earnestly, persistently, I pray
for grace to listen.
God chuckles.
"Are you sure?"

Listening is hard.
All my voices stilled,
my wisdom put on hold.

Listening with an open mind–
that’s harder.
I risk hearing
what I do not want to hear --
facts and fancies
fraying anchor-ropes
of my reality.

Listening with heart and soul and mind--
hardest of all.
That changes everything.
No turning back.

MYSTERY

Who can know
what is at work
in silence and darkness?

One plants,
another waters,
God gives the increase.

Waiting is hard.

Upwardly Mobile

Burial shrouds are
swaddling clothes
of eternity.
Will struggles ever end?
Not likely.

The game will be played in a new arena --
pearls and sparkling stones,
crystal healing waters,
no darkness or tears.

Leaves bud and flowers unfold,
waiting to be raptured.

Community

In my barren grandiosity
I imagine myself
in the foreground
of every drama, every scene.

My pain is real
but yours is theoretical.
My empathy is coinage
to wedge into conversations,
payment in advance for
affirmation
that may never come.

What's wrong with this picture?
Me.

What's real is a circle
of pain and laughter,
all of us seeking
healing
together.

Why Bother?

Why bother believing?
Why love?
Why be at all?

No proof
but a heartbeat,
a whisper,
a yearning.

Seek the horizon.
Taste and see.

Groping

Lord, what shall I do?

What do you want to do?

I don't know. I was hoping
You'd tell me.

That depends on the results you want.

Your will. I want to do your will.

Are you sure?

What's with all the questions?
Of course I'm not sure.
How am I supposed to be sure,
sight unseen?