The Bottom Holds

From darkness into light,
Slipping, gasping, flailing, 
A breath, and here we are
In someone's arms-
Fresh and wrinkly.
Minutes pass, days and weeks go by;
Years fill up the spaces in our
Minds and hearts.  
Love and tears and laughter
Have a name-Life.
The world is a place we like:
Oh, joy! Life is a happy thing.
When we are young,
The years keep on, keen on growing
Us up, and we do grow up.
Love and tears and laughter
All the same, but oh so different.

My grown-up eyes are not
Just like my younger eyes,
Which took in the world hungrily.
Now they are wary.
But still,
Maybe there is hope for those eyes,
And mind and heart too.
The world is not always a place I like,
But the miracle is I am not alone.
The ring attests to that:
There were vows, a covenant.
I stepped up, stepped in,
And then we were hand in hand,
And in His hands,
Our solid ground and firm foundation
We didn't even really know we'd need.
And so those grown-up years are good.
And hard!
Sometimes slipping, gasping, flailing years,
But we breathe and maybe quake or
Get really still sometimes.
For we can be uncertain;
The testing comes and shakes it all around,
Or tears it all away.
We are robbed! The losses knock us down.
Where are our feet? 
It seems a shifting of what is beneath us.
Is it just sand?
The answer rings out loud and clear.
The earth may tremble but
Those hands are strong.
We find the bottom holds. 

-Inspired by words spoken by our pastor's wife at the first of a series of gatherings to discuss Tim and Kathy Keller's The Meaning of Marriage. She said,"The bottom holds." As I've said before, she and her husband would know. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn with them, and to do it with Mike, together. 

Comments

[Missy]

Another "printer". Just sayin'. Your poetry is spectacular. Your ability to capture thoughts in short bursts of word and feeling... Why can't you live closer so we can get coffee each week????