“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own kin?“

~Isa. 58: 6-7

 

She calls me

been real quiet for a time

and that’s ok I understand the need for quiet

We talk fumbling through the surface layers

daily this and daily that

walking our way down the masqueraded mountains

where everything looks so pristine and clean

Our conversations always have had that quality

cant stay on the mountains slopes chatting about

the sunset and the flowers

We tend to meander deep into the forest below

through the fire wrecked woods

where life barely is visible

searching for the streams of living water deep within

It’s the place of the fearful man

and the shame clad women

the hated , despised, and lonely

the deep places of soul

where the holes are so large

your afraid if you point them out

someone will fall in

and never come back again

She says “I’m afraid you will hate me and leave me”

and it shocks me because I fear this too

Its not easy to speak our truth to another

without fear of rejection and lose

I am learning that before anyone rejects me

I reject myself

thinking I am too much, not enough, less than and silly

I also see a question :

When I fear another’s reaction to me, have I auto barricaded myself and in a way, am I rejecting them?

I will walk with her down into through burnt trees,

flowerless valleys and barren wilderness,

dry desert and up to the mountain tops….

I will not turn away

I may be still

I may be quiet

I may feel like I am not there

because we all need times of quiet to listen deeper

where I can not go

but I will not turn away