On Learning To Lean

On Friday while I was looking for something to read while the kiddos slept I found this book...

...given to me by a friend for my 50th Birthday,

 then tucked into a must-read pile, then tucked into a bookcase and forgotten...

(or maybe just saved by Someone for a season when its message would be so relevant and fitting) 

Sometimes life re-impacts us with the reality that there are things our love and power
 simply cannot fill or fix
and there are things we simply. cannot. do on our own!

Not in the season of fullness and favour

Not when love’s flavours are sugar intoned

But when the bite of life is sharp and bitter

This keens the hunger where hope’s heart is honed

Not on the hilltop beholding a vista

Stealing our breath with the view all around

But in the climb, in the sweat-blood-tear blister

This bares the crux where trust’s foothold is found

Not in the heaven of sunshine and flower

While we meander without weight of care

But in the brunt of ‘I can’t’s’ darkest hour

This whets the whisper that turns into prayer

Not in the beauty of bounty’s full forces

Not when thought’s field brims with hymns fair and green

But when life drains us of our own resources

This leads us to the Hand that helps us lean

© Janet Martin