September 4th

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,” Job 19:25-26

oh, how we hope
you are right, Job.
there are days when
we whisper it to ourselves,
and middle-of-the-nights
when the words catch
in our throats like a stone.
for grief manages to empty
the rooms inside our souls—
the laughter of others
echoing in places they
no longer inhabit.
still—
we hunger for hope,
not because we accept
why they are absent,
not because death finally
manages to make sense,
but because,
hidden away under
all the heartbreak,
the memories threatening
to slip from our minds,
the questions we tire of asking
and the platitudes the world offers,
especially the soul-eating silence—
we hear a faint heartbeat
that death cannot muffle.
and so, God of every broken heart,
meet us,
not after the tears stop,
not when we find the words,
not when the pictures begin to fade,
but here—
in the breaking of all
that we thought would never end,
until, somewhere, sometime,
somehow, we see Life
standing beside us,
making us whole once again.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman