Black and white crowd timelapse by Mike Chai via Pexels
Who Are You

Hope Walks

Don’t look.
Don’t listen.
It’s a lot.
Too much.
Your soul isn’t meant to bear it
all at once.

Or do.
Bear witness.
Behold the fallen and falling and know that
you are not separate, not above, not better—no mere spectator.

But do not despair.

Instead,
what is true noble just pure lovely admirable excellent praiseworthy:
think of such things
—of what is not just good but God—
and be satisfied
to rejoice while weeping,
love with a broken heart, and
abound in grace
when it seems nothing and no one is.

Reach with trembling hands,
with leaden arms and ragged fingernails,
to brush the rough edges of hope dragging in the dirt
for
what breath can be drawn freely
what heat borne without fainting
what terror denied reign
without it?

As the crowd presses in with their decibels and demands,
hope strides unhindered, unmistakable, unshaken
against the throng,
yet you will not—cannot—miss Him.
For He is walking towards you, not away.


This post is part of Five-Minute Friday. This week’s prompt is DESPERATE. If you’d like to join in the fun, click here!

10 thoughts on “Hope Walks”

  1. I really like the way you said this…
    “As the crowd presses in with their decibels and demands,
    hope strides unhindered, unmistakable, unshaken
    against the throng,
    yet you will not—cannot—miss Him.
    For He is walking towards you, not away.”
    Thanks for writing!

    1. Thank you! That part actually took the longest to write because I wasn’t sure I’d captured the essence, so I appreciate your encouragement!

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