How do I bid adieu
To a life
And a lifestyle
I’ve lived
For years?

It was never comfortable.
Too Often
it was not pure,
nor holy,
nor of good report.
Rarely was it
praiseworthy.

It was not
Where I needed
Or wanted
To be.

At last,
here I am,
at the edge
of potential new paths,
rising out of the muck
and mire of the past.

New vistas,
new visions,
new opportunities
are spread out before me,
inviting me,
filling me with hope
and belief:

I CAN do this!

And yet…
I don’t know how
to step away.
I’m afraid I’ll lose
my shoe,
Stuck
In the past’s muck.

Then I recall Him.
He asks me to change.
He will lift me
up
and out;
Place my unshod feet
On paths He has traveled,
to places He has gone.

I believe
that when I’ve walked
His paths,
barefoot,
long enough to have worn
all the muck from my feet,
they will be shod
through His Grace
and Mercy
with righteousness,
And I will be purified
and able
to be
in the vistas
I can now only
dimly
see.