1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Lord, there are days when

I long to look in the mirror

and see not my current reflection,

but the face that I faced as a child,

and to that child, I will smile,

and to that child, I will say,

I know you want to hear

that things will get better

and they will get better,

and then they will get worse again.

There will be days of wonder and joy

and there will be days of 

heartache and desperation.

There will be tears of happiness,

days when your soul soars over

the highest mountains,

and there will be tears of deep grief,

days when the earth seems to open wide

underneath you and swallow you whole.

But in all these days,

both the days that lift you

and the days that crush you underfoot,

in all these days,

you will live.

You will live.

You will breathe.

You will draw breath

and in that breath

will always be

the sweet presence,

the oh so sweet essence,

of the almighty God.

And in all these days,

I promise you,

that God will set firm

the ground in front of you,

that God will catch

you when you stumble,

that the light of God

will chase away all shadows,

that darkness, though present,

will never extinguish the light of God,

that no matter how impermanent

your days, God Himself is permanent.

And then I will take a step back

from the mirror and wipe away

the tears that roll down her face,

the slick condensation that has

gathered there on the surface,

and I will smile,

and I will say, finally,

God has you.

Amen.