A Lament

This was one of the first poems I ever wrote. I was in a seminary discipleship group and they asked us to write a lament. Reading this today, I’m realizing that this lament with time may be timeless for me. I still have all the same questions years later. If you wrestle with the nature of time, may this resonance bless your spirit…

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Time

Waiting

How long, Oh Lord? How long until I’m done asking how long?

How long until these tears are gone? 

How long until we have shalom?

How long until you will bring complete healing?

How long until all things are well?

How long will grief consume me? 

Agonizing. Craving. Doubting. Dying. Waiting. Constrained by time.

Future. Wait. 

Develop. Wait. 

Adapt. Wait. 

Redeem. Wait.

Believe. Wait. 

Communicate. Wait. 

Receive. 

Patience 

Sit still, they say.

Self-control, I say.

What is patience? 

You say, pay attention to action that I’m creating now.

You say that You will fight for me, I need only keep silent. 

Pace 

Slow down. The world inches along. 

Speed up. The world whirls around me. 

Staying in step with You is all I need. You’re outside time. Do not let me be a prisoner of time. You hold time in your hands!

Surely, we die with Him to rise with Him––in time. 

When will we rise?

Even from the depths, still there Your right hand upholds me— in time You hold me fast. 

In time You hem me in behind and before. In time my boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. 

In Your time, surely I have a delightful inheritance. 

Surely all in good time. 

Surely. 

I entrust all of this time-wrestling to You, Oh Timeless One.