Even in the midst of darkness and pain
there are still gains to be made.
Hope is distilled in the presence of fear
and the nearness of loss sometimes leads
to treasures that cannot be measured.

The strongest bonds are somehow strengthened
and love that already seemed beyond comprehension
grows even greater.
Humble hearts span craters of darkness,
held by unseen light holding through the longest night
and drawing sustenance that cannot be explained.

Whether weary from walking the same daily path
or forced to face some unwelcome testing,
we look to the best of friends for unending prayers,
that lifting to the Light that invites a greater perfecting,
the shaping of human into the Divine,
creatures of earth and ash made into something everlasting,

Something shaped by the hand of God,
held by invisible power and given in that hour
what is needed for the moment—
though it may be grace when we desired mercy,
and strength when we would have preferred deliverance.

It is the power of presence that sustains us,
the perfecting of weakness that illuminates his glory
even in the midst of our collapsing,
a falling into faith when we believed
we had stepped out gasping into thin air—
yet found ourselves standing on more solid ground
than anything we had ever found in the realm of grasping.

And knew—at least for a moment—that what is unseen
is more real than what is seen.

H. Arnett
5/9/18