Then We Return...

Then we return shouldered a-fresh with comfort for our hurt

Committed to more tears to weep upon time’s heap of dirt

Life’s love-and-labor tempest heaves beneath hope’s diadem

Where short-comings rise up like judges ready to condemn

And we feel so inadequate when facing longing’s wake

But God so rich in mercy does not leave us or forsake

Failure would be a choking noose about the rose of dawn

Without the promises of God that we depend upon

For often we are caught up in the sup of afternoon

When surly farewell comes to kiss our faces far too soon

And stunned, we taste anew the haste of both pleasure and pain

Yet, God so rich in mercy grants another ‘try-again’

This place of grace and hope and faith and trust is formed of dust

The storms of life unleash upon its seasons ordained Must

And none of us are spared our share of opportunity

To taste and see the Lord is good and cares for you and me

Though we cannot begin to understand His perfect will

God, ever rich in mercy whispers to us, ‘peace, be still’

© Janet Martin

Then we return, after memorial services rich with words of comfort  and reminders of God’s unfailing strength to slam-bam, everyday life!! The ‘mom, we’re hungry’ and ‘the bathroom tap won’t shut off’ and ‘our books are overdue at the library’ and ‘Matthew, take off your manure-y clothes before your come into the kitchen!!’  and again, ‘what’s here to eat?!’

We return shod with God’s promise, My grace is sufficient for thee, My power made perfect in weakness’

and a new appreciation for the mundane everyday-ness of love and life. We hug barn-smelly boys, crave noise,  glad we can set a pan on the stove and crack eggs into it, smile and pay our fine and talk to librarian friends about the beautiful service, because they care and grieve too, and we pray to God so rich in mercy, that we do not dwell on where we failed in the past but on which yet remains to be.