Will My Faith Be There?

Throughout my life

my faith in God has been my companion

in joys and sorrows alike.

One day, one prayer, one step at a time.

It has steadied me

when life has made little sense,

and continually reminds me

that unanswered questions

are part of the journey.

When life is going well,

it is easy to overlook

faith’s quiet fragility.

We make plans,

think about next year,

and assume the road stretches

endlessly before us.

Then something changes,

and we begin to understand

what we have always known,

but rarely allowed ourselves

to truly accept:

that life is both precious

and precarious.

Cancer has taught me

that tomorrow is a gift,

never a promise.

And aging has reminded me

that the horizon ahead

is drawing close.

Sometimes,

when the house is quiet

and sleep does not come easily,

I find myself wondering...

when my strength begins to fade,

when my mind grows weary,

when the end is clearly drawing near,

will my faith remain?

Will I still trust

the mystery that has carried me this far?

Will I still recognize

the quiet Presence

that has always lived beneath

the noise of my life?

Will all those years

of praying,

believing,

and trusting,

have become something

deeper than memory,

something that remains

when most everything else is gone?

Or will faith become

more challenging,

more difficult to trust

as I draw nearer

to life's final mystery?

I do not know.

Perhaps no one does.

But the question itself

has become a kind of prayer,

one that asks not for answers,

but for the courage

to keep trusting

what cannot yet

be known.