Trusting Grace

 

 

At first you dragged us

Against our will and into your life

Irresistibly impelling the I 

We were humbled

 

Then you showered gifts 

Washing us with precious promises 

Of life, of good, of blessings to come, even protection from prey

We were inspired

 

So, we did as you commanded

Day after day, studying to preach and pray 

Students on mission, on fire without a cage

We persevered

Life happened

Decades passed

We became as gods

 

Knowing good and evil

Knowing the difference 

Between planting corn and strawberries

Curiosity piqued

 

In our quest of you

Analyzed and perused

Unexamined details sprouted like never before

It was as though, for once, we both reached an impasse

 

Then we each watched each other's tide

Encroach upon our iconic moat and sand castle

While each of us did nothing

 

What happened to the One who saved us?

Where did all the power and sovereignty go?

Will you not do for us what we cannot do for ourselves?

Why the silent treatment now?

 

Nothing but silence, casting doubt

In despair, questioning if you’d ever been there

In loneliness, orphaned and stranded

Why should we care?

A generation of wandering

Around this citadel of sand

And you would not coddle or swaddle us once more

 

Why not drag us, or woo us, or inspire us again?

Why jettison every word of promise?

Convince us to care, if you dare

Then the seed finally died

 

Children abandoned their fathers

Servants betrayed their masters

Fruitless branches pruned from the vine

Because juvenility reigned

 

Only a few learned to increase in likeness and sovereignty

Even fewer took control of this monergistic gift for all

To honor father and mother when they’re no longer needed

And trust this first synergistic word with promise