Before Jesus,
The years were a panel
Of greys,
A paint sample of dreary,
Passing by
With a lack of purpose.
Before Jesus,
My heart palpitated in Me,
Nothingness,
Caught on the fishing hook
Of anxiety
Cast by internal thoughts.
Before Jesus,
Strength was a weakness,
Vulnerability
Reeked of failing trajectory,
Stone-cold,
Unapproachable in self-pity.
Before Jesus,
I waited in secret darkness,
Only yearning
For the limitless grace of God,
Unknowing,
Tangled in lie after wordly lie.
Before Jesus,
I smiled blankly in polaroids,
Unrecognizable,
Fire dormant in my tired eyes,
A lost lamb,
Before the day of transformation,
Immortalized
In the love that will never change.

In Jesus,
Darkness gives way to light.

Together but separate—
A tide lapping the shoreline,
A bundle of strangers on a bus,
The screaming voices of a crowd,
Loved ones over a distance,
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
One body,
Creation uniquely molded
For the roles
Modeled by the Trinity.

The transition of train tracks,
Another hitch in my breath
As the thoughts speed by—

The context blurs with color,
Fields of cattle and flowers,
I try to lower the blinds—

The black coal burns hotter,
Steam of fear filling my eyes,
My Savior boards my mind—

The pressure softens & slows,
Beauty righting itself outside,
Internally I am peaceful—

A quiet truth settles over the
Train car as the sun escapes
From its glaring pride—

He is a better conductor
Than I