Enough

The weight of the day
Fell upon his shoulders.
The heaviness of unending questions,
of hypocritical indignation,
of blind misunderstanding,
felt like lead in his heart.
How could children of God
misunderstand their Father so much?
How could the One who loved them,
without hesitation,
without question,
in spite of their sins,
be, for them, such a stranger?
How could love, offered so freely,
be rejected, be ignored,
be used as a weapon?
He was always surprised by their sin,
and the weight of it
stole his breath at times.

He entered the house of a friend,
seeking solitude.
The room was quiet, cool.
Dust danced on the air in the fading sunlight
as he stood, his head bowed,
his spirit searching for the air his Father would provide.
He wanted nothing except the quiet to reach out,
and to touch the healing presence of the divine.
For a few moments,
for just a handfull of heartbeats,
to be alone.

It was not to be.
A woman found him in this sanctuary,
and sought his help,
when he had no help to give.
He remembered all of those who made demands
on his time
on his effort
on his will,
and he found he could not answer another one.
He felt like there was just not enough left
to respond to even one more request.

But her faith was more than enough.
It echoed off the rough hewn walls.
It danced through the silence of the room,
echoing, strengthening, never giving up.
She asked for the crumbs,
for the leftovers,
for just a small amount of what he had to offer.
Her love of her daughter
gave her persistance.
Her desperation
gave her confidence.
Her faith was more than enough
to remind him.
To renew him.
To breath the energy of life back into him.

That evening, the silence was not what he needed.
The fading sunshine,
the quiet of dusk,
and the solitude of prayer
did not answer his need.
That evening, the faith of another
as it danced through the room,
growing and building,
was the presence of God.
His father reached him through the life of this woman.
Resurrection came again,
through the love of another.

Mark 7:24-30

Image: Sunrise on the way to work this morning.