perhaps you
like Elijah
have found yourself
running for your life
running from your life
huddled in a cave
thinking you are alone
that all is for naught
that you have fallen short
might as well pack it in
shut down . . . go to sleep.
beloved one,
angels always know
how to find you
in the darkest
reaches of despair
they come with light
and tenderness
to nudge you from the dark
to bathe and feed you
back to life
and even if you go back to sleep
there they are
beside you
lifelines of light
heralding God’s inescapable presence
propelling you up the mountain
to face what
you have fled from
and what you find
is that even when all hell
breaks loose—rocks breaking
wind howling
fires blazing
it is but a show—
and no match for
the still small voice
the unutterable all-ness
of ever-present Love
and you suddenly see
all that loomed
is but shadow
and no memory
because here, behold
the blazing, irrevocable surety
of your life and place
in the great goodness
the all-goodness
the inescapable goodness
that is God.
—Joni Overton-Jung
