GOLDEN HOPE IN THE GREYNESS OF DESPAIR

Photograph taken by Lumiere volunteer A.W. Used with permission

I walk this road of greyness

despair my bread: tears soaking my pillow

at night.

It seems there will never be a way out

of this sorrow: this suffering.

Then I look ahead

and out of darkness, glory blooms.

Hope, golden and immortal,

scattered from the Golden Hands of

our Immortal God

showers in blossomed beauty

at the end of my road.

This too shall pass.

My character will have been challenged:

passed the test: forged as gold in the furnace.

I shall win through.

No suffering, difficulty or greyness of despair

will keep me from my goal.

To become a saint.

I hope: I hope for immortal life.

I hope for holiness.

I hope to meet those I lost, and over whom

I wept bitter tears.

I hope for an end to illness, depression and death.

I hope for everlasting health.

I hope for eternal happiness with God.

And my hope will not be in vain.

Yes: I look at the end of this road

and see only golden hope

illuminating the greyness of my despair

into the beauty of eternal bliss

with the Almighty from Whose Great

Hands I come -

and to Whom I will return.

Bless me, O God, I pray.

Bless me today with

golden hope, realizing

that the greyness of despair, once

earth's tumult is o'er,

will never cloud my life-skies again.

Rejoice!