A Field of Glory

She was a rolling meadow small, skirts of grasses, but weeds as tall
Her wild flowers, untamed and fair led her to ignore the patches bare
Where not a green thing grew at all
And the sun, why she basked in its bliss, unaware
She was burning from its hot, dry kiss.

Then, one ragged day He came,
Plan in place He began to toil
His work, it ripped through and overturned her soil
Crushed her wild flowers down,
Uprooted the grasses of her gown
She cried in pain, "Just leave me be,
Can't you see you're hurting me?"

He did not stop but worked harder still,
He pulled the weeds that had grown so tall
All burrows were filled, so as not to fall
He broke the ground so dry and cracked
He was not discouraged by what she lacked

Horrified she looked around and all she saw was broken ground
Dusty field of brown and black, spread with muck on top of that
But now He whispered as He sowed
A promise of new life with every throw

"Shhh, small one, do not weep
My plans for you may seem but meek
But trust me and you won't be sorry,
I'll make you into a field of glory"

She ceased to cry and when she did
Tears from Heaven flowed instead
Rain immersed her ground and washed her clean
New growth, new life, she was redeemed

She loved Him now and bore His work
A meadow small she could not be
"I'll be His field of glory!"
She spoke determinedly

And where she had been stripped to dirt and dust
She grew straight and tall, leaving Him her trust
So now she wears an emerald gown
Her hair bright gold and eyes of sky
She dances in joy as the wind blows by

Because He's making her a field of glory
Fulfilling the promise that she won't be sorry
A song of courage and truth she hums
She knows she'll be with Him when the harvest comes.

~L.L.M.

"Right Spirit Maintenance" Part 1

Create in me a clean heart: O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

I believe that in order to deal with weakness you really should bring that weakness out into the open and confront it. Unfortunately, it is not an warm-fuzzy thing to do.

I’ve been commended a whole lot lately on being an “open” person. Which still kind of strikes me as odd because I’ve always felt that I usually don’t share half of what I’m thinking or feeling. In any case, there have been people that have been impressed with my willingness to share my thoughts and convictions on things. But there’s always this fear that accompanies me after I leave an “involved” conversation - that I’ve shared too much of myself, that I’ve opened myself up to ridicule or left a door open wide enough to get hurt. So the praise I’ve received this past year has been a great comfort to me. 

However, I’ve been thinking. What good is it to be an “open person” if you’re only ever open about the things that you know you can talk eloquently about, or that you’re convicted on, or that make you feel like a strong and smart person? It’s easy to talk about things like that. It’s easy to be open about good things. But if I want to stay true to the praise I’ve received and not fall into pride then I think I need to be willing to consider being open when I’m struggling with weakness or with any topic that might not necessarily feel stellar to converse about.

Lately I’ve discovered a nagging pride issue that’s been hindering me and because I want to try to be brave enough to confront it I’m going to put myself out here and write about it. Kind of scary, but it seems like it’s what I'm supposed to do.