WHEN GOD IS SILENT

A time comes in your existence

When all fails and God is silent.

Left alone through your experience

No friends call, and God seems absent.

You grit your teeth to restrain words.

Food in your mouth becomes gravel

One day your hope picks in men’s words

The next, on your knees, you grovel.

Resentment mounts; Christian ethics

Put to the test.  Feeling hated

By all, you wonder if God seeks

To shame you so. What’s more, sated

With galls and bitter herbs, and mocked

By those who once sought your counsel,

Your mind in anguish becomes locked,

Almost locked to timeless counsel.

When God’s silence is a torture

When worries like the ocean’s waves

Swell, and alone, you them nurture,

And worry whether God still saves;

Darkness your world, the heaven brass;

Succor’s not found and no one cares.

The valley’s deep, grace turns to grass;

Know this:  God is there and still cares.

He shows up and never once late.

Rest, for in silence He yet speaks;

Don’t you faint, just trust and wait:

Your deliverance He always seeks.

                  DAY AND NIGHT

I like to watch the skyline
See the sun dip, Day merge with Night
The line of divide indistinct;
At dawn darkness dissipates
Pushed to the brinks by Day’s light.
 
I like to pretend Day is Night
Reverse their roles for a season
Focus the light on secret businesses
And scramble the times
For sleeping and schooling.
 
I like to imagine Day rules
Night, conquered, shows up no longer
But then, there will be only one day
No months or years to count
No dreams. No birthdays. No Christmases.
 
I like to picture Day and Night as friends
Hand in hand, showing up together
But will they ever see eye to eye?
They appear too busy, day and night
To notice each other’s needs.