NOTHING

By itself,
It is a stark word
It is utter darkness
A bottomless abyss
A blank void
It has no part in anything
And matters to no one

But...
If God could take
A formless concept
And turn it into the universe--
The earth, separating the sky from the waters,
Creating the planets, our moon,
The air, the seas,
The animals and vegetation,
and certainly all of us,
Nothing now seems
To have tremendous value

When my faith has felt
Like a pile of rubble,
reduced to ruin from heartache,
From sin--all ways around
I am reminded of
The simple mustard seed,
A seed so small it seems
Nothing will come of it,
But in time it grows and rises
Beyond all expectations
To multiply itself beyond
Its humble beginnings,
And the birds of the air rest in it
To create a symphony of song

And so is our faith compared
For all it takes is that bitty spark
To ignite our faith,
Or to regenerate it once more,
Into something
Out of practically nothing

Before you and I  
Had existed on this earth
We, too, were like that seed
Conceived, soon a microscopic fetus
Developing from the oneness
Of our mother and father
And now we are here
Inhabiting this earth
From one, tiny spark
We became something
Out of practically nothing

So I dare not waste
Such a precious gift
Though life has been far from easy
Taking my pen in my hand
And sitting before a blank screen
Or an empty piece of paper,
And suddenly something comes
Out of practically nothing

And so let us all realize
What wonderful things
Are yet to be done
That have yet to come
Into existence
Looking unto God with thanks
For those capabilities