Not far to fall.

Julia found an essay she started writing years ago and never finished, so she finished it now. "Let's just say my view from the front porch has changed quite a bit."

It begins with growth, the thing everything is supposed to do: babies, wealth, cities, followers, even faith. "Healthy things grow, but so do tumors and forest fires." From there she asks the question no one wants to ask: how do we let go of vitality gently and with grace? How do we embrace and allow for our own reduction?

She sits with a grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die, with the psalmist's "I cling to you; your right hand upholds me," and with Martin Buber's I and Thou. Clinging, she writes, is not her real state. Being upheld is. And if that is true, then losing your grip is not a fall to your death. There is not far to fall.

Scripture: John 12:24-25, Psalm 63:8, and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV). More at https://pickerill.casa

The Comfortable Words is written and recorded by Eric and Julia Pickerill.
More at pickerill.casa
© 2026 Eric and Julia Pickerill