Abide

I once was a pond, stagnant and dry,

Apart from the oceans that roared nearby,

Stubborn, indignant, wanting no piece

Of the waters that flow and do not cease.

I baked in the heat of my own delusions,

Caked by the vapors of my grand illusions,

Believing that I would someday endeavor

To burst and become some glorious river.

But there was no way for me to expand,

No stream to breach the encroaching sand,

No brook to break away from the pond

Without the source of something beyond.

I once was a branch, full of gall,

Stuck to the trunk of a tree that grew tall,

Scornful and proud, wanting no part

Of the jungle that overflows from its heart.

I withered in the gloom of my own disdain,

Wilted by contempt that stemmed from my brain,

Foolishly thinking that I could break free

To build from ground up a superior tree.

But there was no sense in my arrogant thought,

No escape from the trunk to which I felt caught,

No manner of transplanting this seed of mine

Without the breath of the life-giving vine.

I once was a limb, vain and haughty,

Pinned to the side of a thunderous body,

Hubristic and rude, wanting no share

Of the life or the love that flow from there.

I suffocated badly in my own impudence,

Deprived by the dearth of my shallow prudence,

Somehow perceiving that I could survive

Apart from the body that keeps me alive.

But there was no hope for my mindless desire,

No place to defect, no place to retire,

No other chance for my limb to stay sane

Without the blood that pumps through my veins.

For I was made by the Lord above

As a river to flow, incessant in love.

I am a branch, adjoined to the tree

That always was and always will be.

And I am a member of the body of Christ,

Who abundantly gives the gift of new life.