by Susan Miller
Her Faith Broke
Her faith broke on a Friday
in March, one of those days
that wobbled on winter’s last
legs with its teasing sun but
biting air. As she tended the
garden her head felt heavy,
stuffed with those long ago
Catholic school sayings from
Sister Margaret Something
with steel eyes that popped
out from a veil that swallowed
her face, her endless rosary
beads and 1,000 reasons
God never gave you more
than you could handle.
Why, she wondered, was
it when daffodil stalks
poke through frozen mud,
when you cross a finish
line, hear him say forever
or ring the bell, why when
anything good happens it is
all in God’s plan, yes very
much in good God’s plan.
But when you get the email
that says it’s a business
decision or you think I
would have called her
Sophia or you watch him
walk out the door and your
insides crumble, why was
it then that God works in
mysterious ways. Where
was Sister Margaret to help
explain the way it worked,
a way only a good God can.
Susan Miller is a recently retired journalist from USA TODAY whose off-the-grid passion is poetry. Her work has appeared in several publications, including: Under Bridges of America, Common Ground Review, Gemini Magazine, Months to Years, Sandy Paws, Written in Arlington, Whimsical Poet, Dillydoun Review, Goat’s Milk Magazine, Bluebird Word, Raven’s Perch, the Freshwater Journal, Plainsongs, County Line.
Featured image Josh Applegate on Unsplash
