A Poem for the Weary Soul
by Chrystie Cole
My soul is a well-worn wood floor
that’s known ten thousand heavy footfalls.
Creaking and cracking and popping
under the weight of it all.
What would these floors want
to say if I gave them voice?
What pain would they reveal,
and what resilience would they display?
I close my eyes and listen for God in me.
What is it he wants me to know?
What is it he whispers in the stillness?
What salve does he want to apply to the wounded places?
He is there.
He is with me.
He knows sorrow.
He knows.
He sees what I can’t
and knows what I don’t—
How I came to be who I am,
and better yet, how he is mending me.
He builds the bridge between
what is and what I long for.
His groans echo each creak
and crack and pop of my soul,
Reminding me, I am not alone.
He calls to me.
Come—
As you are, weary and heavy-laden.
Come—
Let me feed you and give you strength.
Come—
Let me sit with you while you weep.
Come—
Let me remind you that sorrow may tarry, but it will not prevail.
Come—
Let me labor while you sleep.
Can that be my comfort in sorrow,
My hope in the long night,
My healing in the ache,
My freedom in the uncertainty?
Where else would I go?
He is life.
Still, I long
To see what is true
and good and beautiful
In the land of the living.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
CHRYSTIE COLE
authored Redeeming Sexuality, A Woman’s Words, and Body Matters studies, and co-wrote Shame: Finding Freedom with her friend, Ruthie Delk. Chrystie brings two decades of ministry experience and her own story of brokenness and redemption to her work as a writer and Bible teacher. She is the founder of The Wholehearted Project, where she creates and curates resources to help women engage their stories with curiosity and kindness, encounter Jesus as the compassionate Savior who skillfully mends all that is broken, and experience hope, healing, and freedom.
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