THE LOOP

I used to be in the loop.
I was the go-to person for "what’s new?"
The keeper of the prayer request list
The finger on the pulse of the community.
Then I got sick.
I stopped working, stopped volunteering,
Missed a worship service here and there,
Quit going to cook-outs and parties and family events.
Became unreliable.
At first people tried to keep me in the loop.
Call me with updates,
Say "Sorry you couldn’t make it; let me fill you in."
But I stayed sick
And people gradually moved on,
Probably to short-term sick people
Who would eventually jump back in.
I know they didn’t realize,
But the loop kept getting farther away.
It got more embarrassing to ask
"Who was that?" "What was he talking about?" and
"What was going on at the school last night?"
Now I barely remember what the loop looked like,
Much less how it felt to be inside.
I think that pretty soon
I won’t even care about the loop anymore.