One Week in April

Emily and I have quickly learned a hard truth spoken by a wise friend of ours.  He said something like, "When your life seems like it's falling apart around you, that's a sign that God is at work too."  Though we haven't been personally affected by the last seven days, it has affected us deeply nonetheless.  To put it bluntly, the past week was hard!

We know that God calls His children to hard things (like adoption!) so that He can show Himself mighty in them in spite of our weaknesses.  Several folks around us have shown that they know this truth as well.  I decided to tell the story of this week in my own way.

7 DAYS

 

The first day was alive,

Vigorous with worshippers, eager to thrive

On the Truth, raised from the dead

In flesh and blood, just as he said

He would.  By His temple torn

And tattered, the sons of God were born

Into eternal life.  The first day is always the beginning

Of the end of death, and the start of God’s winning

Another battle in the war that is already won,

There was evening, and there was morning.  The first day was done.

 

The second day was for Fools.

Laughter and games and smiles are tools

In the hands of friends and families, growing

Closer by every smile shot from faces showing

Slightly twisted branches, heavy with the fruit

Of love, joy, and peace.  The loot

That is plucked from such a day is neverending,

Or so it may seem when God is sending

His blessings in the packages of fun.

There was evening, and there was morning.  The second day was done.

 

The third day brought death

And an appreciation for every breath

That God gives to these shells.  I am but a vapor.

What was the good?  Why did our Father take her

Instead of an old man, or a crook, or me?

The answer lies here.  We are not meant to see

Such things in our state.  God is the one who gives

And takes and gives back.  This I know; she lives.

Our Lord gave her a race. Because of Him, she has won.

There was evening, and there was morning.  The third day was done.

 

The fourth day was dark.

The shadow of death lingered in stark

Contrast to Sunday’s light.  How would he

Make it?  How would they all see

How much she cared?  On days like this

God seems to dwell in the background, a wish

Under one’s breath for things to change.  Yet

God calls us to walk in the shadow until our needs are met.

The Lord is our shepherd.  Our needs are none.

There was evening, and there was morning.  The fourth day was done.

 

The fifth day was a promise broken

Deeds done and words spoken

Cannot be returned to hand or tongue.

And so, even God’s children can be stung

By the fall and its obligatory consequence – sin.

Does this mean that the King of the Universe can’t win

In men and wives, children and lives, or love?

Sin is a reminder.  God has made a promise above

Feelings, either good or bad.  His love cannot be undone.

There was evening, and there was morning.  The fifth day was done.

 

The sixth day brought relief

When the branches exhaled from a grief

Avoided.  My soul called to the Lord to ask,

“How many other times have you delivered me past

These petty worries and fears I wear like a beast

Of burden, with my face to the ground?”  Too often, I feast

On that which is not real bread

Partaking of the world instead

Of you, my Lord.  Lift up my head to the Son!

There was evening, and there was morning.  The sixth day was done.

 

The seventh day…rest.

Have we been cursed or blessed

By the weight of God’s hand resting on us so strong?

Teach us, O Lord! Do not tarry long

In showing us your ways - by deaths and lives.

Teach us your purpose through husbands and wives.

Sing over us the song of the redeemed

So that we might trust that when all seemed

Out of our hands, it was in Yours. Days are precious; You make each one.

There was evening, and there was morning.  The seventh day was done.

 

The first day was alive….