He Speaks Your Name to Keep You

The afternoon hums with the noise of things getting done, but your stomach tightens every time a voice drops to a whisper. You are convinced that hearing your name spoken softly is only the prelude to being asked to leave.

It feels like the middle of the day is just a long holding pattern before the eviction notice arrives. You brace for the door to open and the finger to point.

But there is a Shepherd who knows you so intimately that he calls you by name while you are still in the crowd. He does not whisper your name to dismiss you.

He speaks it to keep you. The light does not need you to be useful to let you stay.

You are not an employee waiting for a layoff. You are a branch that cannot be severed from the vine.

The voice you fear is not the one that holds you.