The Glow You Know

This was a poem written for our Kfgt Family Christmas Sunday in 2023. Enjoy.

Do you know that glow?
The one in a city’s night edge?
That whispers out a homeward pledge?

As your ride rumbles closer,
Your spirit swirls soundly,
Sensing its nat’ral bound’ry.

It’s that feeling inside you of still waters,
Of waking in a toasty car,
Drowsily staring out at stars.

It’s an unbroken blanket ’round your heart,
Cuddl’ng you like a child held softly,
Yet so securely, as though you’re costly.

City light suffuses an eve’ning sky,
Poorly hiding from right ’round the roads’ bend,
Murmuring of your nearness to truly mend.

You could keep staring out the windows,
Fogging them up with your heavy breath,
Wond’ring how often cars meet in death.

But you can sense the driver’s presence;
He knows this rOUTe – planned it out, even.
His rear-view smile you can believe in.

You sink backward into your seat,
Closing your lids in quiet trust,
At peace with your or’gins of dust.

Yet, a loose-threaded feeling strums through time,
Being mid-journey – neither here nor there.
It’s a tug-of-war in each Christly heir.

Our destination is plainly foretold;
Our means to it long ago delivered,
As a child in whom glory shivered.

Like the Israelites quivered in waiting,
So do we for ever-true love, joy, and peace,
Eyes turned ahead to when with’ring will cease.

Yet, we keep stumb’ling upon joy,
Adding kindling to fiery love,
Carving out space shaped like a dove.

God gives us so many gifts,
Some brilliantly displayed in coloured wrap,
Others recycled from what seems like scrap.

Yet the best one was laid amidst the hay,
Light breaking through that haloed night so strong,
Hope pulsed, ready to right all that felt wrong.

Now we, His children, practically vibrate;
Anticipation begun long ago
Continues, unchallenged, to freely flow.

He has promised life full of wond’rous light;
Do not let any darkness pull your sight,
For we can breathe deeply due to His might.

We wait for glory to return in full,
For Christ’s light to scatter all that is dark,
And call the earth to turn their ears to hark.

So look around at all the Christmas lights,
And remind your heart to dwell in their glow,
For it’s the fount of all hope we could know.

Adina de Jong
December 2023