You Do Not Understand

“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but afterward you will understand.” (John 13:7)

No Jesus, we really don’t understand.

How can we?

Our worlds have been turned upside down.

We feel like we’re starting to drown.

And you offer your hand.

But we just want to understand.

Oh the allure of enlightenment.

To know.

To predict and control.

To manage and manipulate.

To order and organize, our nice tidy boxes.

To make sense of it all.

We want to believe that everything happens for a reason.

That we can find meaning.

That we can trust your hand. 

And You say that we can.

But that doesn’t mean we get to understand.

Until… Afterward? 

(Will there really be an afterward?)

This will all make more sense one day?

The picture will be clearer than what we see today?

The story will be deeper and the journey will be richer

Than what we know right now, along the way?

Yes.

And You say it’s okay 

To not know

To throw open our hands

Let go of our plans

Release our demands

And settle in to this life that we don’t understand.

Until… afterward.

And in the meantime

We’ve got Your hand.