This feeling is like
no other

A shattered and
broken heart
pieces laying
at your feet
wonder that something
this retching
has happened
to you

Each day
waking up
immobilized
frozen with grief
tears making an
exit passage for the
sadness
tears that come
and come
and come

How does one
survive
this tearing of the
soul
the searing pain of the
body and
spirit?

God provides
hands that
catch you
as you fall
a safety net
of people
hope
to keep on
living
love stitching
the shreds
into wholeness

Achingly

slowly

you are
mended
not into who
you used to be
but changed
changed in ways
yet to be
discovered

Another chapter
revealed
born out of the ashes

To look deeply
into another’s
eyes
and not look
away

To reach beyond
the skin
to the heart

To listen
with the
compassion
of God

To see
beauty
and grace
midst the
ugly and
uncomfortable

To hold
the broken
with soft
hands

To love
when
hate
fills the room

To be
Jesus
when
Judas
knocks
on our door

Wonder comes
from a place
deep within.
It bubbles up,
overflows,
shoots forth:
a moment of
overwhelming joy.

Wonder arrives
in a baby’s
smile
where hope
and love
and radiance
meet.

Wonder erupts
in a sunset
that screams
red, and gold,
purple, and pink,
yellow, and blue.

Wonder is the
touch
of one who cares,
gentle and soft,
inviting us in,
providing a
safe place
to rest.

Wonder is the
mystery that is
God…

To believe is to suspend rational thought.
Mystery becomes foundational;
the unseen, a reality.
Belief is not for the faint-hearted.
Doubt lurks in the background,
prowling, laughing, unsettling.
Belief requires courage –
persistent tenaciousness,
determination.
Failure, crisis, tragedy,
criticism, judgement:
all can shake belief.
Belief demands strength of character,
the security of self-knowledge,
an eagerness to break barriers.
Belief stretches one’s mind into the unknown,
freeing the spirit and soul.
Belief brings you face-to-face with God,
seeing without eyes,
touching without hands,
hearing without ears,
knowing without facts.

Act

Push through the fear.
Find yourself among the rubble.
Dig deep into the brokenness and discover the truth of who you are.
You have strength.
You can find the way out.
Break the fetters that keep you bound!
Challenge the notion that stillness will make the terror disappear.
Connect with your ability to think; make your body move; speak.
Shout it out!
Tell the world who you are and what you need!
Find your voice that can cut through the strangled muteness.
Free yourself of the clenching, shallow breathing, eyes downcast and LOOK UP!
Look into the eyes of the dragon and slay the damn thing!