“Love you,”
one of my beloveds said.

I held these two words
in disbelief and wonder.
I wasn’t expecting a hug goodbye
or even a glance back.
That didn’t mean
I wasn’t hoping for it.
Now, I was holding the gift
I’d wanted for so long.

For years,
I sat outside a heart
shielded by self-depreciation.
Too risky
to hope,
to enjoy the sunshine,
to say who they are.
Much safer
to stay inside and not
be.

It wasn’t easy to wait.
Leaning against that cold wall
made me cold too–
cold and weary of waiting.
Afraid of what my beloved might become,
I shielded myself.

But Love found a way in.
Love said to me,
“Trust them.”

Those two words
made the wall between us porous.

Love whispered these two words to
others shut out in the cold,
and they too began to trust this beloved one.

Then one day my beloved
wanted to be
in the sunshine,
believed the light
revealed their glory,
smiled, and found
two words.

“Love you,” my beloved said
to me.

After 93 million miles, the sunlight finds things, 
even an old stone wall, to make it beautiful. 
—Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Sunlight

∗ ∗ ∗

Love Mischief for the World

On May 7, hundreds of people showed up at the base of Burnaby Mountain, which is a few kilometres from where Fred and I live, to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline project in an event called Hug the Mountain. I regret that I wasn’t one of those huggers. Yet, I’m grateful for the people who did join hands in protest and for sending this message.

What love mischief are you and God doing for the world?
Let me know and I will include it in an upcoming post.

Credits and References:
“Love Heart” By Louise Docker from Sydney, Australia (My heart in your hands) CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Steve Garanaas-Holmes quote from the poem Sunlight on the blog Unfolding Light.
“pattern of sunshine on stone wall” by spodzone. Used with permission/

© Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim, 2022
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without permission from Esther Hizsa is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided there is a link to the original content and credit is given as follows: © Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2013-2022.  http://www.estherhizsa.com