To Love the Lost

To love the lost is first to sit in their quiet.

To listen.

Speaking without hearing

erases the deep ache of their history.

It builds a fortress of our own rightness,

turning fragile, breathing lives into a project.

Or worse.

But honest love is a bridge spanning the water,

asking all to make the crossing.

Vulnerability breathes in two directions,

and our truest testimony is often in the silence,

holding the space,

letting the moment resonate,

until the only thing left to see

is an open hand,

and an invitation to walk together.