This world.

Impossible.

Unthinkable.

We are brought to our knees.

                  *  *  *

God, today, there is no true north.

And when I last checked,

The sun did not rise at all.

Today, the innocent still suffer,

Buildings still fall,

Families still grieve.

A world has ended without

Any reasonable fanfare.

                   *   *   *

This is the way of tragedy,

How it breaks in and robs us while we sleep.

                  *   *   *

Help us to know what to fee,

What to do,

How to grieve – together.

                  *   *   *

Blessed are we

Who try to see things clearly,

Though the truth of it all feels

unimaginable.

                  *    *   *

Blessed are we

Who ask and wait, and ask again,

For answers that may not come,

For hope that seems hards to find,

For comfort that is no easily offered.

                  *   *   *

Along the way

Show us how to live

When we’ve lost the things

We cannot get back.

                  *   *   *

Remind us that you, oh God,

Are our home and our refuge.

When life’s unthinkable fragility

Is too difficult to hold,

Take my hands.

                  *    *    *

(Source: Kate Bowler, p. 74-75 The Lives We Actually Live)