The Threshold of Enough

(1st Kings 13, Luke 18)

Three times— 

the arrows piercing 

the ground expecting 

the prophet still waiting 

Three times—

as if it were enough 

felt complete to a king
who measured obedience
by motion.

The prophet burned—

the field 

still open 

Faith empties the quiver
or it never believed
the war would last.

The widow 

owned no arrows,
no prophecy,
only shoes worn thin
by the same road.

She learned the judge’s shadow,
the sound of his door,
the hour his patience cracked.

She did not ask how many times.
She asked until.

Three strikes is surrender dressed as effort.
The hundredth knock—
same hand,
same request—

is priesthood.

Enough is not a feeling.
Enough is an outcome.

This is not a symbolic act.
This is not a moment.

This is not
a three arrow solution.

© Ron Simpson Jr.