Hopelessness

His coat was tattered

Due to storms a plenty

Which had both come and gone

Throughout his short life.

His feet were not shod,

Never with peace,

But were bare and seemed

To say anything but solace. 

They were calloused and hard,

Very much like his heart,

Because of early years of abandon,

Middle years of hurt, and now just much pain.

The physical pain

He had learned to endure,

But 'tis a hard lesson indeed

To learn how to cope with emotional.

His scars on the skin

He was forced to see everyday,

And they made his heart bleed

As memories flooded his being.

Not one good memory

Could he bring to his head

But only terrifying ones

He kept having to relive.

Memories of abandon,

Of hate, and not love,

Of pain, and not healing,

Of things below, not of above.

His scars grew deeper

With each passing day

And salted by all

Who passed on their way.

Once, he envied those

Who seemed never to have problems,

But because of their treatment

His envy turned to hate.

No one had ever loved him,

Never took his crying hands,

Never kissed his wet cheek

Just rubbed it in the sand.

His eyes, he was sure,

Would always be red

From all the tears he had cried

Upon many a bed.

His poor crying heart

After ages of sanding

Had become calloused hard

And now heeded not the grating.

'Twas believed that he possessed

Not one pliable area in his being

But sometimes one needs not soft,

For some things are able to crush through rock.

This man so poor, so lonely, so sad

Was so hopelessly lost 'twas thought

That there was no hope to be found

So no one thought twice.

Until a young child perceived 

Not a man in torn clothes

Not the grumpy old face

Not the crooked and bent nose,

What that child saw, only he could say

For that day he saw a man in pain.

He saw a bleeding heart

He saw those red eyes.

He saw the pain, the hurt

And the rejection too,

And although the child understood not why,

He knew what he must do.

The child tore away from his mother

And ran to the pitiful man,

And without stopping

Ran straight into him.

He wrapped his arms around him

And squeezed him tight,

He said that Jesus loved him,

And that he would be alright.

The man in tatters was surprised

And very much embarrassed

But embarrassment didn't matter

For someone cared enough to notice him.

He hugged the child back,

As tears streamed down his face,

He then asked the child a question

Who was the Jesus who loved him?

The child explained as only a child can,

How the Son of God came and became a man,

He took all our sins in His body on the tree,

And then He died for you and me.

The man did not need anything more,

He had been so hopeless for so long,

This little glimmer of hope

Looked more like the shining of the sun.

Through the witness of a child, 

This poor man's life was changed,

He was given hope when none could be found,

So can we not do the same?

If a child so small could give a simple hug,

Can we not love our neighbor?

And give them a hug when they are hurting?

And love them when they lose hope?

Through Christ we find the strength,

And love overflowing,

Enough to share with all the world,

Why are you not going?

Share the love with friends,

With family, with everyone around.

Let Christ so fill your life,

So through you Christ can be found.