Thought by thought.

Impenetrable walls.

Stone structures. 

Built by knowledge & pride.

The pillars of this faith.

There stood my city, my faith, my soul.

The soul shifts.

The city shifts.

The walls begin to crack.

The soul shifts.

The city shifts.

The soul shifts.

The city shifts.

The walls topple. 

They crumble.

The structure comes tumbling down. 

My soul cracks.

The city is left in ruin.

Broken.

Twilight passes into night.

Time passes.

No light.

No growth.

Only decay.

The city turns to ancient.

Untouched, untended.

I'm afraid to go back in.

The night draws on further into darkness.

Then God turns His face toward me.

Toward my ruins, my faith, my soul.

A glimmer of light brims over the horizon. 

My glimmer of hope.

The light strengthens. 

The darkness expelled.

The sun rises.

My eyes see again in the light.

The sun warms.

I release.

Release the tension held by darkness, by fear.

The warmth penetrates my soul.

Yes, yes, warm me.

Light me.

Rise, sun, rise.

My ruins, now I see in the light of the morning sun. 

God's face shinning upon me.

My new dawn.

An ancient city, now but crumbled stones strewn & buried in mounds across the land.

My ruins, my faith, my soul.

The sun shines brightly now.
The sky releases it's stored rains.

The rains of healing fall.

Watering.

A seed, long forgotten, begins to sprout.

It pushes it's way up through the raw, earthen soil. 

My soul.

It pushes past crumbled stones of old.

There it is.

New life.

Hope.

Finally in my ruins.

The sun. 

God's love.

His Face.

The rain.

God's healing.

They do their work.

My city dissipates.

And in it's place...

A garden.

A garden that lives & flourishes.

An organic, life bearing, fruit bearing garden.

Ever moving in the breeze. 

Ever changing. 

Growing.

No more solid stones of thought.

No more sullen, lifeless, empty city.

The light of God's love grows my garden.

I tend my garden. 

I care for it. Prune it. Live it. 

Healthy, robust, warm. 

My garden, my faith, my soul. 

Deuteronomy 30:1-5

...come back to God, your God, & obey him with your whole heart & soul according to everything that I command you today, God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back & pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there & bring you back...

Joel 2:21-24

Fear not, Earth! Be glad & celebrate! God has done great things. Fear not, wild animals! The fields & meadows are greening up. The trees are bearing fruit again: a bumper crop of fig trees & vines! Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God. He’s giving you a teacher to train you how to live right— Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh & nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine & barrels of olive oil.

-audrey