Dear little brother,
My least favorite sight to see,
is tears in your eyes;
to see pain looking back at me,
when we say our goodbyes.
I’ve never liked it when pain
rolls along down your face,
there’s nothing I can do
to stop it or slow it’s pace.
As a child when you learned to walk,
and you tripped under your feet;
I was the first at your side,
the first sight your eyes would meet.
In grade school you found yourself
lonely, mistreated by friends,
and I wanted to give my life just so
your heart could make amends.
In high school we sat in your room
as tears fell because of heartbreak,
I believed your heart was golden,
that no girl deserved to take.
In college you found me in a crowd
to simply cry on my shoulder,
it seems you know I’m a safe place,
each year we get older.
Months ago we laid on my bed
in the middle of the night,
your sorrow was deep
and you had lost all your fight.
The tears in your eyes
are the worst things to see,
as big sister I feel like
the pain should fall on me.
But God gave me a vision
of Him catching these things,
a single tear on His pinky finger,
and the goodness He brings.
He dropped the tear in a desert
and a garden appeared;
flowing with green hills and streams,
and nothing that you feared.
My jaw dropped in awe of the
beauty He had made;
from a small drop of your pain,
He said “It’s the price I paid.”
This God, my Jesus, experienced
the worst kind of pains;
dying on the cross
visible by His blood stains.
But He made the ultimate kind of good,
by taking our sins;
allowing us life eternal
a world where love wins.
This God, He holds you, little brother,
in the palm of His scarred hands,
even when I’m thousands of miles away
in a bunch of foreign lands.
I can’t run to your side
when the tears start to flow,
I can’t do anything about it,
this I know.
I hate it when you cry,
it’s the worst sight to see,
but I know, little brother,
that He holds you and me.
Love,
Your big sister
Dedicated to all of my brothers who find themselves wiping away tears for different reasons. I wish I could be there to walk you through your tough seasons, but I know Someone Else is, and He is much better qualified. This poem was written after a Facetime call with my little brother after saying goodbye for a month for a communications fast (a difficult task God asked me to do in order to truly release them to Him). This month I am learning to let go of family and friends walking through tough seasons, really resting in His faithfulness, sovereignty, and embracing full trust and surrender.
Prayers appreciated.
All my love,
J.J.
