Every day can be a journey
as we travel down life’s winding road.
Each step is somewhat different
as we walk beneath our load.
Sometimes the path seems easy,
the load feels rather light.
But other times it’s heavy,
as we journey through the night.

And in those nighttime hours,
the darkness makes us feel alone.
Like no one walks beside us
and there’s no signal on our phone.
We’d call for help, but what’s the point,
for no one is around.
Our path has led to hopelessness
where despair is all that’s found.

But if we listen quietly
within that darkest hour.
We will start to feel the presence
of the One who’s filled with power.
He is walking right beside us,
He has never left our side.
But His help was pushed away
by our selfish, stubborn pride.

And in those quiet moments
as we listen to His voice.
He promises to be our light,
if that would be our choice.
And if we choose to listen
and pick up our heavy load.
We find it’s not so heavy,
as He carries it down the road.

So, I follow in His footsteps
as darkness turns to light.
And I see the others also,
who have been there through the night.
They too are walking freely
as our loads have now been shared.
So we bear each other’s burdens,
lightened by the One who cared!

The help we give each other,
is help we have received.
And it’s not too far away,
if we only would believe.
Our load is made much lighter
by the One who reigns above.
So that we can care for others
and show them God is love!

© 2017 by Tom Lemler

I am currently in a season where my mind does unfriendly things to my body.  Something internally gets out of balance and the heightened anxiety and panic soon snowballs into a lot of restless nights, which only makes the anxiety and panic attacks worse.  I never want to make a bigger deal out of these than what they are, so I often willingly travel this road into the darkness thinking with each step that, “it’s not that bad . . . I can still see well enough to function.”  I am learning though.  I am learning that there is a point that I can’t manage it on my own and I need help.  I am learning that just because I can’t see others around me in the darkness, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there — many have walked a similar road. I’m learning that turning to, and finding the Light, in the darkness is news that I ought to be sharing and that is difficult to do without also talking about the shared darkness.  I pray that God uses this poem, which showed up this morning after my getting some help for some of the “darkness” symptoms, to encourage others to seek both God’s help and the help of people to find the light that He wants you to walk in.  For me, part of that help is having the humility to listen to my family and my doctor in taking some anxiety meds for a season while the mind heals and is restored.

In prayer,
Tom