The World at FULL Volume – Sounds of Redemption

“For you shall go out in joy,

And be led back in peace;

The mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

~Isaiah 55:12 (NRSV).

When the abyss takes us into its greedy gulp and a languor of joy fills the life void, there’s a sense of no return. Hopelessness beckons and helplessness with it. And yet, strange is the reality afterwards. Life has never been better.

Redemption is extant in the size, smell and sound of things. “Well, I never noticed that before,” is the pronounced perception.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The state beforehand...

Ease was before but now that’s gone,

Whistling now seems ever so wrong,

Present but apart – life’s just odd,

Empathy abandoned – poor old clod.

The journey through...

Encouragement now to just hold on,

Telling us after we’ll sing our song,

Hold to faith – seems so unfair,

As if Someone on High’s put us to the dare.

Still it’s felt to trudge on through,

Know it’s the way of facing things blue,

Push off from harbour having to chance,

Fighting winds and willing to dance.

The experience of redemption...

Afterwards – alas – now what a thought,

Held to dear life – just look at the port,

We’ve steamed to harbour – never did cease,

A tidy fine sample of hard-earned peace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The hardest times in life can be literal God-sends. With eyes and ears opened the vision of mountains and hills that “burst into song,” and trees clapping their hands takes form. Never before was the simplicity and majesty of nature noticed; not like now.

The world at full volume is a joy to behold. It took a process to get there; it was worth the work and the wait!

Come to redemption. No! Redemption shall come. Ours is to prepare it a place, to make it welcome as it approaches, and then to simply bask in delight for what it shows us.

Life is a beautiful thing.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.