Each new day...

This morning I came across a poem I wrote 9 years ago.

​NIne years ago I was recovering from a serious health scare. Each day I am brought back to this time when I sit with those who are at the end of life.

Recently I spent time with a man suffering from a rare muscular condition that is rendering his body useless, inch by inch. The condition will eventually cause his vital organs to cease to work. It has been both painful and disheartening for those around him to watch. Every time I visit him he reminds me, "You know I don't blame God for any of this. I love God. God makes it possible for me to live another day, surviving this terrible disease."

There are things that we all encounter that cause us to struggle, and to try and make sense of "why?" something happens.

Every day we meet people who are encountering "one event," that is changing their life. A death, birth, marriage, breakup, a diagnosis, lost job, a win... It goes on and on.

I'm not sure if I'm ever going to give thanks for having been ill all those years ago, but I am thankful that my prayers have come to reality. It's funny how the priorities of our prayers change when our life circumstances change. I can remember praying all those years ago to God to "Let me see my daughter fall in love for the first time," because that is something she had not experienced. The other prayer, "Let me see my son grow into a man," another that has come to fruition.

​May we all encounter each new day with thanksgiving.

Stay in God's grip!

Oh To Live Another Day

On the tattered edge of my
unraveling mind
The great ruler, time
slows the melody in my veins.

Before my eyes spring
my children, abounding in life,
even from the barest deserts.

Destiny rediscovered
in two small hands that
hold on to mine.

And in the sands of my memory
the tracks of small feet
that no one notices
but me,
in dreams
that revisit just before dawn.

Only whispers do I now hear
as I look to each new day
to sing out, “I am here”
with a loud voice.

On the fringe of nothingness
through the sun’s rays
I rebuild frail memories
meditations of my dreams in silence
as a defiance of the agony of aging.

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018