dusk to dawn

Here's a poem that I just wrote last week, but since it's more imagery than reality (but what is the really real?!), it could probably use some background. So, the short of it is, for a few days my future was once again all up in the air or trampled in the mud, whichever way you want to look at it, and I was excited about new options, but then through wise advice and through reexamining myself, I've returned to the more challenging route, which, in my narrow, near-sighted vision is where God is leading me at this time, possibly with surprises around corners. He will be my strength on hard, lonely days, and He will be my joy on those days when I feel like dancing and laughing forever. To set the tone, this poem was actually written in two parts, the first in my room with candles lit, and the second at Tehillah (Hebrew for abandoned praise, I think), a worship service. Anyway, may this encourage you too, and bring you into worship, as the greatest call on our lives is to love God.

Dusk deepens to darkness
as the last glimmer of red
steps out of the sky,
leaving a stillness,
an empty silence.
The sand’s warmth invites
memories of an earlier hour,
when the sun was high
and the lake gleefully
welcomed us into its shallows.
But that has ended now
with the setting of the sun,
and we each sit here
in darkness, watching
the blurred horizon, waiting,
our own thoughts wandering.
My toes inch deeper
as if seeking shelter in the sand.
I whisper to the Giver of Light
praying Him to penetrate
the night with bright clarity
and colour once again.
But if all was day,
would I rest in Him?
And so I wait.
Stars slip into place as the moon
slowly unveils her glory,
then slips once again
behind a curtain of clouds.
But then restlessness flees
as Your Spirit pours down on me.
All I can do is fall back
and soak in Your presence.
Show me your glory.
I want to be in Your temple,
praising with the angels.
Not even the world can hold You in,
yet You come to me.
The rain passes over and away;
I hadn’t even noticed the darkness
beginning to lighten.
I rise to my feet
as the grey is broken
by a golden glimmer
of morning light.
And then, bursting forth
in a splendour which brings tears
to my squinting eyes
Your glory fills the earth,
penetrating my soul,
lifting me into Your temple courts.