Reaching

The other night, I ran through the neighborhood, just as the sky was entering that lovely stage of cobalt blue... when the clouds were still barely visible. The atmosphere looked wrinkled, as if someone had dropped a veil over the earth.

And against the cobalt sky, I could see the branches of old trees. Black and serpentine, reaching, sprawling, curving, turning in on themselves and outward toward the dome of the heavens. I stopped. My heart beating fast, my mind open, reaching.

I thought of what it is like to learn to love You. Some see it as a path, straight and narrow, simple to follow; growth is a formula from a book, a set of rules. And maybe I see it this way sometimes too. But this night I felt like one of those old trees in Your presence... my heart sometimes dark and serpentine... reaching, sprawling, curving, turning in on itself then outward towards You.

For a long time I stood there, looking up at the branches painted black against the blackening sky. The trees were beautiful, still growing, even as night fell... then I set my feet again to running.