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Zero

November 14, 2016 By Juanita Ryan 2 Comments

“It’s nothing.”
That’s what we learned first.
All the other numbers
were something.
But not zero.
Even though we could
see how this big round circle
looked like the moon or the sun
or like God’s arms wrapped around us.

But then the full truth came out.
“It’s a place holder,” they said.
If you put it behind one of those
skinny lines called a one,
or behind one of those squiggly others,
it makes it so much bigger.
All by itself
it comes in like a hero and makes
little numbers count for a lot.
And if you bring in a quartet or
a choir of them, watch out,
it might be hard to count that high.

We knew it.
That big round emptiness
so full of potential
and promise,
so perfect in its simple beauty,
waiting to offer its
value, its full weight,
to others.
Ready to lay down next
to them, hold their hands
so together they could
shout and sing and
count for a lot.

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Comments

  1. SavedbyGrace says

    November 14, 2016 at 2:38 am

    Thankyou so much for adding beauty to my day, Juanita.
    I’m feeling like there are quite a few empty spaces in my life at the moment
    you’ve encouraged me to look beyond the nothing to see potential and promise
    that I can still have beauty
    though i have lost a lot.

    Reply
    • Juanita Ryan says

      November 14, 2016 at 5:19 pm

      Thank you for your words of blessing. May God comfort you as you grieve you many losses.

      Reply

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