THE SEARCH
August 1 & 2, 2009
The crowd that slept on the grass
after a full meal of bread and fish
awoke to discover
that the one who fed them
and the one they wanted as their king
was missing.
The crowd of people,
young and old
fit and weak
set out as fast they could across the northern
to catch him before he got swallowed up
in the busy streets of
They found him standing outside the synagogue
and asked,
“When did you get here?”
Not answering, he said, “You came in search of me
because I fed you well
but you missed the point of it.
There is more to life
than crusty bread and tilapia
there is what the spirit needs.
And until you discover what that is,
you should awake
each morning asking
what keeps you from
living the life you wish to live
or being all you want to be
for the hunger deep inside
isn’t satisfied by things
as you thought they would,
so the search must go on
until the moment of surprise when the spirit stills
and you don’t know why
it’s the moment you want to live
as fully as you can
and as truthfully as you must.”
When he finished
one was heard
to say,
I liked him more
when he gave us
food to eat
than I do now
telling us to search for
what is missing in our lives
Instead of bread and fish
he told us to search for answers
that will satisfy more than the feast of yesterday.
If tomorrow I wake up
with a question on my mind,
I’ll give it a try
If not, maybe someday
when I have
nothing better to do.”