status quo

“One day everything will be well,
that is our hope.
Everything’s fine today,
that is our illusion”
Voltaire

(Edward Collier’s Letter Rack / 1698 / Oil on Canvas /Art Gallery of South Australia)

There are good days…
Days such as Christmas when things like Snoopy and Woodstock flannel sheets,
along with a handmade Georgia Tech teddy bear is all it takes to make
one happy and content.

(dad and his grandson on Christmas day / Julie Cook / 2016)

There are bad days…
Days when the weight and heaviness of reality is coupled by the
frustratingly helplessness of a losing battle of body …

(dad on a bad day / Julie Cook / 2016)

And yet the turning of the calendar page always brings renewed hopefulness.
A new year,
a new day,
a new month,
a new hope…

The hospice nurse told us yesterday that things with Dad are status quo…
could be worse, could be better, and yet he’s holding his own–so far this day…
On another day, perhaps tomorrow, something else may come our way, something different…
but as for today, we will take “status quo”

Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
Psalm 3:2-6

hanging on

I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.
Jewish Proverb

(weather worn pine hangs on the edge of Little River Canyon, Alabama / Julie Cook / 2016)

We’re barely holding on…you and I.
We are battered, bruised and feeling beaten.
Assaulted daily by both current events as well as ourselves.

We will not stand if our roots run shallow.
We will not,
we cannot,
withstand this tempest storm…

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,
for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,
which God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12

Holding on? Maybe it’s time to let go. . .

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
Hermann Hesse

(male flicker takes to the tree tops in search of something tasty / Julie Cook / 2015)

Perched somewhere high above indifference and stagnation,
we walk a tight rope stung across the gaping crevasse of demise and despair

A ravenous world beckons to the would-be high wire traveler,
traverse the hungry precipice it hauntingly implores

Seducing
Luring
Tempting

Wanting hands beckon.

Trembling and afraid, one foot, then two, we inch ever closer
To light?
No.
The way grows ever more dim
We edge our way closer to empty darkness,
No longer able to see the rope

Only darkness and emptiness stand before us
And what of below?
A hot wind whips up from beneath our feet
The wire sways as our arms instinctively flail and thrash

Vainly we frantically reach out seeking something firm for balance
Desperate
Fearful
Alone

Footing is lost
Balance gone
Grab the wire quick!
This being the last chance before certain death

Once we slip downward, deep into the abyss, there is no hope, no return
Hang on!
Maybe hand over hand in order to complete the journey?
Pain sears through bleeding hands
The wire cuts deep

Energy and strength are drained
Resignation
then, the final letting go

We begin to fall
Spiraling
Fearfully lost
When suddenly something, someone, out of the darkness, snatches us in mid fall

Redeeming Grace has grasped our flailing arm
Lifting us up
ever higher

The darkness fades as the heavens open
Chains worn once heavily, disappear down in the abyss
As the sun begins to warm frozen fingers

The cherubim and seraphim sing
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
For one more child has joyfully come back home. . .