Love

The Worship & Arts pastor at my church asked a few writers in our community to write on the idea that God Is Love.  And here's what I wrote...  

Some days I can’t find you for the darkness.

The world is pitch black, and I can’t even see my own hand moving,

    let alone Yours.

As hard as I strain, I can’t catch the slightest glimmer

    of David’s rising Star.

You’re the Breath of Life, but I can’t breathe.

You’re the Bread of Life, and yet, somehow, I’m starving.

You say You’re rejoicing in heaven, but honestly, on these days,

    I’d give everything -- my money, my body, my soul --

    to hear a single note of the song You say You’ve been singing over me.

Some days You’re misty, like twilight.

I perceive you dimly, as if I’m seeing You through colored glass.

I hear you, but barely.  And I wonder if you’ve seen

   the Sandy Hook Elementary and Navy Yard  shootings --

   and taken cover behind a cosmic wall of bulletproof glass.

It’s like You’re up there, but you’re not here.

You’re not far from those of us who are seeking,

  and yet You’re the farthest thing from close.

And the only thing that keeps me warm on these fading nights is that

   I hope and I hope and I hope.

Some days You’re as clear as day.  

I know You the way I know my friend

  who sits across from me at the coffee shop while the sun’s gentle rays

   come streaming through the room’s high windows.

I recognize your features --  I know it’s You.

My soul resonates when You speak my name --

  I know it’s You.

Sometimes I even feel your hand lovingly brush across mine --

  and I know it’s You.

And on those days, I know that I know that I know that You are real.

And even in the darkness and the dullness and the dimness of this world,

No matter how I may -- or may not -- perceive You,

I know these three things to be true:

That You are Good.

And You are Close.

And You are Love.