When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and through the rivers,
they shall not overwhelm you
For I am the Holy One your God,
and I love you.
—Isaiah 43.2,4
In the flood that is this life
some waters will sweep your home away
and others stop at your doorstep.
There is no choosing, no deserving
in their rising or receding.
On any given day one of us is picnicking,
another swimming for our lives.
For all of us some day waters will rise,
and with them,
beside us in the water a reaching out,
above the swirling flood a reaching out.
So many reaching out.
This is what we have to stand on.
—August 30, 2017