behold!

"So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, 

    beholding your power and glory." Psalm 63:2

i have sat in the quire 

of a great cathedral listening

to gentle voices of grace

and

heard you singing lullabies 

to little children cradled 

in their mothers' arms 

in hospital rooms.

i have wandered around

thin places where you tear

the between undiscovered galaxies

and those whose DNA includes stardust

and 

shadowed you as you

take the hands of the lonely

and walk with them until

they step over into your grace.

i have seen your power 

in thunderstorms shaking

the summits of mountains

and 

discovered your brokenness

among the ashes of communities

destroyed by wildfires. 

even as i

behold your glory

i am held in your

grace.

(c) 2023 Thom M. Shuman