Month: October 2018

         “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them.
                        —Mark 10.14

The little one in the refugee camp.
Let them come.
The one in church, squirming.
The one having a tantrum:
that one, too, is holy.

Why is it hard for you
to let the snotty kid
be in line in front of you?
What are you thinking?

Le them come
to the Christ in your heart,
the child playing, pure of joy
and full of beauty.
The child wondering, asking,
gazing without opinion.
The one crying, feeling deeply,
profoundly present.

The child within you,
seeking, coming home,
the child just now waking,
the child in you who is small,
who is awkward and unsure,
wounded, yearning,
with open arms—
child, come
and be blessed.

There is only one child.
Let them come.

   —October 2, 2018

Before the neighborhood
this hillside was wilderness
where I used to play.
I wish I had a picture.

After the paint job I wish I’d taken
a Before picture to lay along the After
to marvel at the difference.
It’s always after the remodel,
after the fire, the new addition,
that we wish we’d thought to get a Before,
sometimes to remember and sometimes
because we don’t,
but now it’s too late.

Friend, now is the Before.
Notice this now, while you can,
because it won’t be this way forever
and whether you rejoice or mourn
you’ll want to have noticed,
to have been here.

   —October 1, 2018