Signs

They are a powerful drug;

not the roadside kind that tell us

where we're headed or what to buy,

but the grace-balloons that God

drops in the midst of daily life.

Like any powerful pain reliever

or hallucinogenic, they're able

to change how we live.

Like most pharmaceuticals,

there's also a danger that we'll

miss the possibility of transformation

toward which they point,

and get lost, instead,

in the signs themselves.

God's signs point toward a freedom

that comes from trusting in something

far beyond our capacity

to act or imagine.

Addiction to and obsession with

the next sign causes us to miss

the signs' life-altering purpose.

It also precludes us

 from responding

with signs of our own.

Sometimes the message

is just, “Stop looking

for another one and become

a sign for someone else!”

© 2015 Todd Jenkins