This strange earthly life

This is a strange walk, this earthly life.

One of faith and frailty, fears and

failures. You say we’re spirit,

But all we can see are hands and

Skin and bones. You call us to faith,

And hope in the Unseen.

But all we can sense is the

Seen, the heard, the tasted, and the

Touched. You give us faith, and then call

Us to trust in a future that is eternal and glorious.

But all we can feel in these earthly bodies

Are goodbyes and loss

And sacrifice and missing joy. 

You came and conquered. And then left,

Telling us you would one day return. It’s

Been a long time and too many of those

We love have left and gone to you, without a

Word, never to be seen, this side of

Our own death. Yet, you say to have hope.

Hope in the unseen. Dear Lord, we

Are earthly creatures, our physical senses

Far out-pacing the spiritual. You call

Us into the spiritual realm, in surrender,

In faith, and trust and hope. And yet we cannot

See past these hands and skin and bones.

So Lord, have mercy on our skin-bound

Souls, and our weak minds who try to

See the unseen, but are left with a

Sense that all is not as it should

Be or how it will be. Forgive us our

Frailties and our fears. Give us the 

Courage to walk like Joshua, in

Hope that what is beyond our sight is true and

More real than all we can see.