Looking for a perch

  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17

  Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

~W.B. Yeats

These stanzas by Yeats are my go-to poem for when I’m feeling overwhelmed. For the times when I’m feeling like things are out of my control, for when I’m feeling lost. I’ve often imagined the frantic wheeling of a falcon in the sky, ever searching for his falconer, the one who cares for him, his home. So many times I’ve uttered these stanzas and thought that they gave me comfort. I thought that knowing and explaining my feelings was all I needed. When the truth is, that’s not so helpful. I mean, sure it’s important to understand how you’re feeling. And there is merit in being able to express those emotions…even to express them by using poetry. But what do you do beyond that? What is the next step? How do you get out of those feelings? There is nothing in that poem that helps with the next step. As pretty as those words are, they are just words and they are limited in how they can help me.

Last week in bible study, the author used this verse and it immediately clicked that this was the end game for all those times when I felt overwhelmed. When I felt like things were spinning apart and I had lost my perch, I needed the truth in this verse. That God holds all things together. That there is nothing that is out of His control, no situation or circumstances or people can throw God off. God created all things, He is the power behind all of creation and only He is in charge of when things ‘fall apart’. God is my creator too and its’ good to remember that nothing can separate me from His hand, the perch He offers me is eternal. The falcon may lose sight of his falconer, but I can take comfort in knowing that God never loses sight of me. The next time I experience these feelings, I won’t just stop with expressing them. I’ll use God’s words, the truth about His power and put my trust in Him.