Standing at the edge of still waters
in the middle of my life
looking out on the reflection of the world that God
in his lovingkindness
created for me
to inhabit
and enjoy

The beauty of trees, sky, grass
the V-line of geese mirrored above and before me
the sound of wind
the distant moving rush of river
the hum of every living thing
and the one small voice
of my life

All the people who held me up
From my childhood forward
Gave me laughter, love, song
A heart that was unafraid
To love and be loved
I see them now reflected,
rippling out into the distance

It takes so many lives
To shape one life
So many hands
To build one story

O God of grace
For the indescribable riches
You have heaped upon my life
I have only the one small song
Of my singular life
To sing in return

Every moment you work miracles
the breath in my lungs
the kindness of strangers
the eye that sees
the hope that rises
above all fear
the light that shines
in the darkest night

For all these treasures
you ask nothing more
than the story of my life

It is not enough.

But I give it back
With my whole heart
body mind soul and strength

Poet, God
My great hope:
To have your handwriting
Scrawled upon the pages of my life.
To be lyrics of a song
Never before sung

my one small voice
is all I have to give