December 1st

“As for me, I am poor and needy,
     but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
     do not delay, O my God.” Psalm 40:17

in this season of accumulation
so many hands are empty,
so many hearts like puzzles which
miss pieces which won’t be found,
we clutch at hope,
worried that, like a candle,
it will go out from life’s bitter wind.
yet—
when the world looks past us,
you see us
in checkout lines
with near empty baskets,
in the silence of the exam room,
in the loneliness sitting at our feet
like a stray kitten refusing
to get off our front porch.
so come,
not to those banquet rooms
of the privileged who lack nothing,
but to those forgotten places
who have nothing to offer
but an empty manger.
as we wait,
staring into our bleak existence,
hoping that you will indeed
remember us and come running
with grace in your arms.

© 2025 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman