This Place, This Cup

 

This Place, This Cup

everything that has gone before

   has brought me to this place

every cup of joy, every cup of sorrow

the cup of liberating service,

   the cup of drudgery and duty

the cup of friendship and of betrayal

  the cup of pilgrimage and of stagnation

the cup of success and of failure

the cup of hard-fought victory

  and of unexpected defeat

 

the cup of belonging and family

  and of disintegration, death and divorce

the cup of peace and contentment

  and of strife and confusion

the cup of adoption and acceptance

  and of abandonment and rejection

the cup of love, mercy and grace

  and of bitterness and unforgiveness

the cup of repentance and reconciliation

  and of withdrawal and estrangement

 

the list is endless of all the cups

  that are the one cup from which

  i have sought to quench my thirst

 

every cup, every sip, the one cup

  has brought me to this place

  this place?

a place of new life, new hope,

  new love, new home, new family

a new beginning with a new cup

a cup of overflowing abundance

  and of fresh expectation

a cup of rest, recovery and healing

 

His Cup taken from His Hand

 

“And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks

 He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you…’”

 

“I will lift up the cup of salvation

  and call on the Name of the LORD.”

 

-         mark d. cooke, 8-13-24