How Long?

How long? How long?

The cry echoes through the centuries.

Looking up at the countless stars,

waiting for the promised child,

a father waits for the birth of a nation.

He listens, misunderstands, makes mistakes, starts over again.

Impatience maps a trail

of wrong turns and redemptions

Deception repeatedly dividing brothers

as jealousy and fear sells family into slavery

Summoned to sit with kings

and growing as memories fade

Until the nation wins its freedom from oppression

only to wander the endless desert

and enter a promised land

where so rarely there is peace.

Looking up at a distant star,

waiting for the promised child,

whose death and resurrection whisper rebirth.

We listen, misunderstand, make mistakes, can start over again.

Written By Tracy Ingham