Holding onto Hope

This body, shell, silently erodes away
Time drips down in sun and years and babies and careers and sleepless nights
Hands ache, minds are stripped of memories, hearts beat harder and strength fails
This body,
Shell
It wrinkles, wears, stretches, ages, tears and empties

Death Comes

But not just to the aging
Death, silent and sure steals the breath of the unborn, the new born and any who have once been born
It leaves holes where souls once touched and held and rocked and hugged
It's shakes homes and breaks hearts
It cares not of our willingness or readiness - it just comes

So we hold
We hold our breath, and the ones we love a little closer
We hold tightly to memories of laughter, work, relationship, card games, candy, conversation, baking,  bingo, and life lived
We grasp the now moments, holding hands, playing make-believe, whispered prayers, bicycle rides, heads resting on shoulders, creating, sharing, doing and times spent doing nothing
We hold onto hope

But what if hope isn't in the holding on?
What if hope is in the letting go?

What if hope is built?
Built, as the temporary heart yields to the eternal call of an eternal God on your eternal soul

Hope Fills
It fills the holes in the aching heart, it's expectant and life giving
Hope breathes and lifts, remains and sustains
Hope is built
Built as the temporary heart bows to the eternal promises of a faithful God

Disappointment?
God is incapable of it.

And what of life?
What if life that gives hope looks a little, or a lot, like dying?

Life
Springing forth from the daily death to self
Because selfishness steals
While eternity softly calls
God, The Creator
Beckons, Welcomes and Wants
God, The Son
Pursues, Gives and Redeems
God, The Spirit
Guides, Empowers and Dwells
Offering hope and peace and something more to hold onto
Because while death comes - it can not break the love of an eternal Savior
It can not unredeem what's been paid for
Or break what's been bound up in the ever-after

There is no fear
For life overcomes decay
Eternity is
And hope
Hope in this eternal, calling, pursuing, dwelling, living God
Does not disappoint