Miles in the Rain: a Poem

I didn't have the chance to get my own picture before the rain stopped (and it wouldn't have been nearly as lovely), so this one is from Pinterest)

I could walk for miles in rain like this

The constant sprinkle that paints the world green

It’s cold, but it’s a good sort

The kind of icy depth in which you know there is growth.

And I, like a poet, cannot help but rhyme the world

Place it in cadence with the presence of God

I cannot splash in puddles

For my shoes must be dry today

But perhaps on the way home, that will change,

And I shall jump in so deep that the ankles of my jeans

Will be wet with this funny sort of redemption.

I glance down now and see my image,

Distorted in the murky depths of gathered raindrops,

And I wonder—

Could I walk for miles in spiritual rain like this?

The constant aching that puts a dark cloud over me?

Do I have the courage to say that this chill of disappointment

Has an outpouring of grace and growth

That, though hard to see is also hard won?

How can I see God in the mist that hangs low over the hills,

Yet I am blind to Him in the veil that I grapple with

Whilst in the heart of my journey Home?

Why so afraid to slog through the soul-mud that weighs me down,

Yet so willing to dig hands down into this wet, black earth after the storm?

For there is a storm in my spirit, where flashes of pain are followed by

The thunderous silence of God, when I feel I need Him most.

And every disappointment is a gust of wind,

With me too weak to stand up against it.

It pushes me in all the wrong places, and it beats at my soul,

And when I look in puddles I see only everything I don’t want to be.

Yet—

Could it be?

Could I walk for miles in rain like this?

The word on my lips is the negative, yet—

I have. And I look back over the space traveled—

Hard to see, but not invisible through the fog,

Miles.

So I can walk for miles more.

And I shall dig my hands down into the mud,

And when I draw them up they shall hold joy.

 

P.S. See my awesome blog design? It was done by the lovely Emily over at Twenty-One Designs! I'm so grateful for her talents, and she did it for me all for free! So if you're needing that sort of thing, I definitely recommend! She's amazing.