Of Things Not Seen

Faith is really quite simple. You say you are going to do something, and then you keep your word. Any man with integrity knows that this is how one lives honestly and truthfully.

So it is no mystery when faith works. It is the only thing that could happen, given where you started and where you ended. It is what occurs when hopes become words kept and a life lived.

It's something that can never be taken away, only given up.

Somehow, there's a certain freedom in it. You didn't see, but then suddenly it's there, and so you hold on to it.

And the light persists.

When I'm Losing Color

Show me that bright green field—

The one with the miracle

And the children smiling for joy

With the purpose of a greater beauty to witness.

Oh, how we long for the time to be swift,

But not too swift in the wind,

Because we don't want to be swept away

Before the infinite draws near.

Soul, tell me you remember—

Tell me the tale of lights and beyond,

Where it was so bright

That every expression was reflected glory.

Oh, the confidence of that promise!

When all the world moved together

With endless lines and endless hope

And all that wasn’t understood became awe.

Friend, this is it, this is it—

This is all I've ever needed,

Because beyond all the voices that startle me

Is that one foundation that holds me.

A Whimsy

Cora sat on the

Edge of the lake, where she would

Hear the wind whisper.

It told her stories

Of life and love and the passed

Days of bright sunshine,

When sometimes people

Would look at the ground and not

At the bright blue skies.

But she always looked

At the sky, or at least its

Wavy reflection,

Because she found that

It often helped her to have

Two perspectives of

The issue at hand.

Because life had ups and downs,

Like a sine wave graph.

If you could see it

How somebody else saw it,

Then maybe when the

Autumn leaves fell in

The lake, obscuring vision,

You wouldn’t lose sight

Of reality

Or any of her nicest

Flowery maidens.

Faith and Hope

And the bright stars found us again,
Waiting for the dawn.
And I've stood under these stars before,
With the love of the saints and their song.
I've stood on the foundation
And felt my heart beating
To the rhythm of the universe,
To the rhythm of the waves breaking on the shore,
To the rhythm of a breath
Breathing along with mine.

And I've stood under the rain
Of broken cisterns that can hold no water,
That could never hold any water.
And I've run from myself
And I've run from my King
And I've longed to return again
Because my heart is still beating—
It keeps pumping my blood.

And I've seen the daughters of men
Weeping with holes in their hearts
The size of a double-edged sword
Mistakenly wielded and turned within.
And I've seen pain become bitterness,
Where the broken and torn hearts fester
And never seem to catch enough of the healing water—
Could never hold the water that lives and breathes.

I've been there and seen these
And continue to stand there
Because I know.

And I'm confident
And I expect.
There's a new song coming
And a new dance to go with it.
There's a place where the day dawns
Into a bright blue sky,
Where my pain
And the pain of the ones I love
Burns away in the warmth
And washes away in the sweet dew
On the hills in the land
That we will call home.

And right now we have your love
And we have my love—
And your hands are with mine.
Blood still flows through our veins;
We still have the ground beneath our feet;
Our lungs still breathe in and breathe out.

I will never give in
To the worst of our fears.
I will never back down
From what I know is true.
I will find something beautiful
And nurture it back to life again.