Where is this place that You have led me?
Its searing heat my eyes do tear.
Where is this place You have led me?
My heart beats fast in panic, dread and fear.
My dreams lie shattered on the rocks
Of this hard and lonely place.
My hopes, once blossomed, now do die;
Their withered leaves I cannot face.
How have I come yet one more time
To this land of dust and rock and barren soil?
Why must I journey on through this?
I am so weary of the toil.
Then softly comes a voice,
So soft I think I did not hear.
“Be still,” it says, and then goes on
“For I am God; you must not fear.”
“You thought you’d reached the golden place
Some call the Promised Land.
But then it fell, its skyline gone,
And you forgot I held your hand.
Throughout it and through bleak lands
You’ve also traveled in the past.
To reach what was briefly comfort’s site;
Know this new desert also will not last.
For it is but a passage,
This desert men call change.
It can be long and wide and rough,
Hard to see beyond the range
Of mountains that do grow
Out of sand and scrub and shards.
But once you reach its ending,
You’ll rejoice it was so hard.
For only then you’ll see Me
And all I’ve yet to give.
For only then you’ll really know
What it means to live
A life that won’t be bounded
By deserts, fears or dreams.
A life that’s not confounded
By circumstance or change in stream.
Of where it is you think you’re headed,
Of where it is you think you’ll land.
Remember, you won’t falter, fail or fall.
Remember, I am the One who holds your hand.”
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שָׁלוֹם سلام peace
From “Poems For Catholics and Other Christians”Cheryle Johnson, Copyright June 2017, Revised (2nd Edition)
Available on Amazon
A Senior Moment 