The Day Freedom Showed Up and Abuse Was Sent Packing

Looking back on all that happened,
and how long it took,
it feels like I gave up so many times.

Yes, I gave up,
but I was not the only giver.
“Up” did not give up on me.

My life is pocked with so many scars,
I feel like a rough piece of stained glass,
held together by a binder
that’s too sacred for me to imagine.

From a distance, it looked like
an ordinary horse coming down the path,
and the person in the saddle was nondescript.

The closer they came,
the more I began to realize
I’d never seen either of them before.

Even though they looked unfamiliar,
something in my heart
felt calm and comfortable.

The word “home” kept echoing
through my marrow.

When horse and rider
stopped beside me,
I asked, “Who are you?”

The answer given was,
“My name is Freedom and
this is my horse, Justice.”

As I inhaled deeply,
and took it all in,
Cheek Creek opened,
and my eyes released a flow of tears.

I felt the twinkle in Freedom’s eyes,
and Justice leaned in to nuzzle me.

Freedom spoke softly, but firmly,
“Justice and I are here
to take you to a new place;
a place where Abuse will no longer
be allowed access to you.”

Justice knelt,
and Freedom stuck out his hand,
as I crawled onto the back of the saddle.

Once I was secure,
Justice began to trot down a path
I’d never been on;
yet its familiarity whispered,
“We’re going home again,
for the first time.”

---------------

My prayer for you,
is that your equine angel and her jockey
are already headed your way.

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Bond

To hear that others’ grief
has been made
a skosh more bearable
from a brief encounter
with some literary wrestlings
from our own deep loss and ache,
feels not only
like another blanket
we can pull up
when the grave’s chill
makes another unannounced return,
but also like
a bond of friendship
that not even death can sever.

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Same

Photo by Gay Jenkins Howell

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and
today and forever.

Yes,
Jesus remains the same,
day after day,
forever and ever.

The crucial component
of his sameness
that we mustn’t miss,
however, is that
he is constantly
and forever calling us
to set aside who we are
and how we live,
in order that divine Grace
may be given the opportunity
to more completely unfold
Mercy, Justice,
Peace, and Love
into every square inch
and every relationship
of the community
of the cosmos.

Yes, the
“Forever the Same” Jesus
is inviting us to be
continuously transformed
into a Christlike
neighborhood of his
“New Every Day” followers.

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

One

There is but one vowel
in the word church;
one soft voice
that binds five consonants
into ecclesiastical existence.

It is “u.”
Yes, “u” are
an essential part
of what holds it all together.

Make sure, especially
in the oddity
of these strange, divided times,
that “u” are participating
in ways that give meaning
and hope to all
who gather and serve
in whatever ways they’re able.

© 2025 Todd Jenkins

Guide

I know it’s guardian angels
that we all request,
both for self and others, O God;
but what I really think
we’re desperate for
are guiding angels.

Rather than hunker
in our bunker,
what we need —
what the cosmos needs —
are angels to show us
the next step, and then
to hold our hands
as we take it.

Send your angels, O Lord;
send your angels!

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

This Is the Day…

Vibrated across vocal cords,
in shapes, patterns, and styles
understood by cultures,
or at least by someone
whose eardrums twitch,
they attempt to connect minds,
if not souls,
by painting verbal images
across the atmosphere.

There comes a day, however,
when verbosity arrives
one too many times,
and at least one conversant
recognizes the need
to let the silence do the talking.

This is the day…

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Fragments

Photo by Patrice Wells

Torn out, old flooring was found
dumped into a small cemetery.

What, pray tell,
were the perpetrators thinking?

“The long-dead won’t mind.”?

“Their descendants probably don’t even
come by here anymore.”?

But I saw, heard, and felt
something different;
something more:
a message from the trees
whose lives were taken
to make the flooring:

“Forget the gold-paved streets
that we’ve been convinced
line the paths of eternity.
It’s sister and brother tree
who lay down their lives,
so that a smooth surface
can be provided us,
and all who came before us;
not merely to get from
one place to another,
but also to dance,
as we sing the harmonies
of hope.”

Do you hear the music?

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Sands of Time

Ah, yes; maybe
learning how to love
requires not that we
face our own death
with trumped-up bravado.

Perhaps it demands, instead,
that we begin to recognize
both the insignificance
of our own single grain of sand
on the beach of eternity,
and, much more,
the infinitude of grace
that needs, knows, and loves
the very speck-ness
of who we are, unconditionally.

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Grace

At first breath,
it sounds so gentle,
like a delicate flower,
subject to destruction
by the brutality
of sun, wind, and/or rain.

It’s not until we catch a whiff
of its overpowering scent,
and its diamond-like
strength and beauty flash
before our eyes,
that we begin to realize
that its gift is
so deeply enmeshed
in the marrow of godness
that no one anywhere
or anytime could ever
hold a candle to its splendor.

Its gloria magisterium
is unveiled when
we begin to understand
gratitude and generosity
as the sole highways
on which we can pay it forward.

Matthew 15:21-28
clearly indicates
even the incarnate one
needs a passel on occasion.

Grace.
Let ‘er ride!

© 2026 Todd Jenkins

Authority

To write it another way,
author-ity,
or the action
and understanding
of the author.

To have authority
is to be so deeply
connected to
and enmeshed in
the story
that we can see
and influence
what happens next.

It is the capacity
to convince other characters
to willingly participate
in creating
a perceived outcome.

There is but a single
true authority,
but sometimes we’re able
to function
on the author’s behalf
within the chapters
in which
we find ourselves.

© 2026 Todd Jenkins