Held

Today the prophet Micah

Spoke to me

Asking me to consider deeply

What it means to love kindness

And all I could think about was 

Holding the world

Holding God’s people

Holding you

What does it mean to hold someone

Or everyone

Is it a form of mercy

Or compassion

Or tenderness

If I am holding you am I protecting you

From evil

From injustice

From pain

Am I honoring your hopes

Your dreams 

Your frailties

Days and days

This pandemic summer

I have watched my locust tree

Its branches old and worn

Holding a tiny bird

With protection

With tenderness

With compassion

With love

As if that tiny bird

Is the most important

Of God’s Creation

At that moment or maybe

For all time

More important even

Than the tree itself

If I could see

The face of the tree

I am certain

I would see 

A smile spreading across its rough gray bark

For a tiny bird that doesn’t notice

That it is held with tenderness

With compassion

With protection

With hope

With love

Perhaps my locust tree is showing me

A glimpse of how God is

Holding the world

Holding me

Holding you

And like the bird

I don’t always notice

That I am held or

Who it is that is holding me

Do you

In my heart

I am holding the world

I am holding you

With tenderness

With compassion

With protection

With hope

With love

You do not need to notice

I will smile anyway