A Pause On Your Faith Journey Poem by Daniel Brick

for Matthew, with encouragement

I see you as if you stood
on a ridge between lowlands
and rugged high country.
You are poised in thought,
your back to familiar scenes
as you gaze into a new sky
shining over your next trek
upward toward an unimaginable
summit. That may well your life's
pattern: mastering one height
after another, drawing ever
closer to the final summit.


































































































































































for Matthew

I see you as if you stood
on a ridge between lowlands
and rugged high country.
You are poised in thought,
with your back to the lowlands,
as you scan the rocky heights
and wooded thickets below a sky
of steel blue expanse. What you
are thinking has lifted your spirit
higher than the highest peak.

How long will you stand
between realities of descent
and further ascent? An awareness
was been placed within you
ages ago. It has grown steadily
and shapes the man you are
becoming. It is bound to help
you, it is bound to complete
you, it is bound to raise you
body and soul to the highest glory.

Will you assign a name to this
gift of impulse and purpose?
Call it Fidelity, and immediately
the face of Jesus appears everywhere
you turn. Now it is clear: your thoughts
while standing on this ridge,
between the beginning and the ending
of your journey, were prayers. And now...

they are answered prayers, because
you are ready for the next stage
of your mission. This is the moment
when pride and humility must coalesce
in a perfect balance. Stretch out
your right hand and clasp the hand
of the one closest to your heart.
You two will continue to walk, and
climb a common path. There will be
others beside you, behind you, ahead
of you. It is a community that ascends
the highlands, with you as their natural leader.