From the UMC prayer list

It began as an echo
a hint
whispering: “I might hurt – but then again, maybe not…”

Hour upon hour
hinting and flirting
until it emerged
as pain.

Fleeting pain
nagging pain
aching pain
a pain that gnawed and chewed
a pain that signaled and threatened
a pain that made me want to climb the walls
and claw at the windows.

And then, I heard the dreaded ‘snap.’
Snapped so hard that it
snapped my mind
snapped my will
snapping in every waking thought
snapping that refused to let me sleep – forget about dream!


Didn’t everybody hear the snap
that sounded like thunder on the inside?


Surely if they heard the thunderous sound that snapped inside of me, they would come and wake me from this eyes-open bad dream.


Perhaps no one will believe how awful it really is
until I crawl through the rubble
and locate the very straw
that broke my back.

[Safiyah Fosua, Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, Director of Invitational Preaching Ministries, GBOD. September 1, 2005]