198 - Facing Tomorrow

The subject line on the email read “Hope.” I opened the short missive to read “My 13 year old son has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma of the humerus. My heart is heavy. I look for a psalm for me and my son.”

My mother always said, “If all the world’s troubles were put into a pile, you will still pick out your own.” Sometimes (and I barely dare write this), I think that my own health difficulties are a trade-off. Somehow, they protect my family from illness and problems. I know that this isn’t true. But I daily thank God for their health and safety, and pray that it continues. And that I never have to cope with the agony I hear in the email I received.

I truly had no psalm for a 13 year-old. Not one that I thought he would understand and would feel comfortable reading. His mother’s words kept repeating in my mind until I composed this psalm.

One Hundred Ninety-Eight

Facing Tomorrow

Listen God, when I call to You;
Breathe with me to calm me,
Ease my heart’s fright
As I face tomorrow.

Some things have changed,
But not everything.
I am still me,
Despite this challenge.

Listen as the confuson
Of these days subsides,
And help me plan again,
Writing a new story for my life.

My days will be described
With different words;
Let the scary lines
Be rewritten with pleasant images.

Make this strange adventure
A sacred task,
Drawing me always to You,
Letting me rest against Your strength.