(I wrote this one for a poetry reading a couple of years before COVID)

Caught
in a chaotic cycle of unfinished projects,
unexpected tasks,
and unrealistic expectations.

Sprinting breathlessly, near broken,
on a treadmill that only runs uphill.

phones ringing
dogs begging
milk spilling
kids screaming
nylons running
car skidding
doors slamming
checks bouncing
blue lights flashing
surgeons slicing
batteries dying
just missing

Something needs to stop.

Set down the plate.
Hop off the treadmill.
Close the calendar
and open the window.

Look out at the world beyond your box
beyond your problems
beyond yourself.

Look and see.

That chaotic cycle is not all there is.
You are part of a world that is so much bigger
than you can ever imagine.

You are part of a plan
that is so much grander than you can even dream.

Just imagine –

there are tiny pine needles
on baby trees
growing on mountains
so far off the traveled path
that no human eye will ever see them.

There are glowing fish swimming in ocean trenches
deeper than a manmade submarine will ever travel.

There are huge burning balls of fiery gasses
balanced in an ever expanding expanse of space
that quietly twinkle when we look up at night.

No, our chaotic cycle is not all there is.

We are just a tiny, but most beloved, part
of His mighty creation.

We are small.

Time is short.

But our life will last forever.

So take your time.
Claim each moment
and live outside of the cycle.