The Unfolding

The Unfolding

I believe people can change

not all at once,

but through consistent effort

over time.

I believe remorse can grow roots

when truth is faced without armor,

when the mirror is no longer an enemy,

when excuses finally run out of breath.

But I also believe

the body remembers.

That love once learned

how quickly safety can leave a room.

How silence can lie.

How promises can pack a bag

and leave home.

So when fear visits me now,

it is not because I doubt the work,

or dismiss the effort,

or refuse to see what has changed.

It is because trust,

once broken,

does not return at the speed of words.

It returns in patterns.

In mornings that don’t disappear.

In truth offered before it is requested.

In hands that stay open

even when shame would prefer to close them.

I am learning

that healing does not mean forgetting.

It means noticing

when the present no longer resembles the past.

It means letting fear speak

without letting it decide.

It means loving

with eyes open,

heart cautious,

and hope still breathing.

If change has come,

it will not demand belief.

It will wait.

It will repeat itself gently.

It will understand why I tremble

at what once broke me.

And maybe that patience,

that quiet consistency,

is where trust is born again.

And I trust God

with what is still unfolding.

j.marie