Charity you did not want because it reminded you
Of all the ways you never helped yourself
Charity you did not want because it reminded you
Of all the times you never helped at all
You went out to make disciples of all your petty plans
And came back to fill your desk with
Blank books and hourglass sand
Tenuously, you walked the path that was narrower
And closer to the ocean’s edge
Beating back the brush and leaning sideways against
The gnarled tree branch hands
But was the road less travelled your jeweled cross to bear?
Or did the richness lie in rest you would find right there
Oooo, oooo
Did God say quit my job so that I can
For my own sake do my thing
Or rather that my most pressing problem is
His children’s suffering
And while I chafe at being told just how to live
I can’t deny the life he gave me that I should give.
Oooo, oooo
Copyright © 2010, 2015 Rachel Zylstra
From The Tacit Turn, 2015