Held Precisely Because You Are Real

The hand pulls away, and the silence rushes in to fill the space where your fear was whispering all along. You are convinced they have finally seen the fraud you are, the mask you wear, the emptiness behind your eyes.

That the distance in their grip is the first step toward the door. But the gathering dark is a liar about what is real.

It tells you that you are alone because you are unlovable. It tells you that you must be perfect to be kept.

Yet there is a love that does not depend on your performance or your perfection. A love that saw every hidden corner of you before you ever tried to hide it.

And it stayed. The light is not frightened by your shadows.

It knows the shape of your brokenness and calls it home. You are not being abandoned because you are flawed.

You are being held precisely because you are real.