A vision

Isaiah 65:19-21

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,

and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,

or the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it

an infant that lives but a few days,

or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;

for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,

and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

A vision of healing and wholeness

beyond the war and carnage.

Of peace and planting

beyond the destruction.

Of fruitfulness

beyond the rubble.

A vision of life.

But how can we glimpse God's promise

through the dust of destruction?

How can we imagine God's future

in the burnt out ruins of a city?

How can we envisage longevity

when the lives of children seem so cheap?

How can we glimpse hope

in the midst of desolation?

Gods promise is for a world 

we cannot imagine

in a time we cannot tell.

Our hope is in a God

who delivers on promises.