sorry, paul (Romans 5:3-5)

 watching chemo drip
      into your child
   week after week, does
      not produce endurance,
   it wears your soul
         down to a nub; and
walking by the side
      of your aging parent
   through
         dementia's desert
      doesn't build character,
   it erodes your
          heart; and
though the preachers
      always pontificate
   other wise,
      too many know
         how hope
   trips them and
   leaves them crumpled
by the side of
      despair.

(c) 2017 Thom M. Shuman
 

all we need (Romans 4:16)

not the letters after our names,
   or the framed sheepskins;
not the amounts in our accounts,
   or the stocks we hope to use to
   paper the mansions in heaven;
not the successes we have carved out,
   or the pats we get on the back;

but simply,

the simple faith
that we can
                  depend
on God's grace,

that's the only
guarantee we
need.

(c) 2017 Thom M. Shuman