An Empty Place

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:43-50

An Empty Place

Sometimes after celebrating
when joy has bubbled over laughter
flowed like waterfalls when we danced
in the rain a dangerous quiet comes
and we find ourselves alone.

Sometimes our hearts can plummet
despair, loneliness and pain overwhelm
a dark stillness like cold shatters
our nightly wanderings and nightmares
creep on in.

Sometimes alone we feel abandoned
often in exile we feel punished
away from the smiles of love
we permit ourselves pity
morose and dark we morbidly dwell
in liminal spaces of neither nor.

Too often scrub and empty only
to fill to overflowing again with anxiety
worry, control and obsession
kept from sleeping we darken
even the night shadows.

All the time we are the family
of God who binds our wounds
mends broken hearts paints over
the moldy green envy and greed
replacing complacency with compassion
scarcity with abundance
and selfish with service.