I emerge from the mind’s
cave into the worse darkness
outside, where things pass and
the Lord is in none of them.

I have lingered too long on
this threshold, but where can I go?

To look back is to lose the soul
I was leading upwards towards
the light, To look forward? Ah,
what balance is needed at
the edges of such an abyss.

I am alone on the surface
of a turning planet. What
to do but, like Michelangelo’s
Adam, put my hand
out into unknown space
hoping for the reciprocating touch?
~R.S. Thomas “The Threshold”

I can feel utterly alone at times in the dark wilderness of this world, barely aware God has put me here for His purpose.

The dark conceals forward and backward, up and down, inside and outside — I become disoriented and disconnected, balancing on the edge of known and unknown.

I reach out blindly, mustering the confidence He is near. My hand is created to grip Him tightly at His touch.

And He will hold me fast.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139: 8-12