February 9th

"And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  And he was afraid, and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.'"  Genesis 28:12,17

so, God,

it turns out that

the way to get to heaven

is to prop a ladder against

a house to clean out 

the gutters of an aging neighbor,

or to put one down

into the deep loneliness

of a dear friend so we can

go down and be with them

until we can climb out together,

or go up one with the little kids

until we reach the top 

of the big shiny slide and 

go speeding down with 

our hands in the air, screaming

in joy and then doing it all over

again.

(c) 2024 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman