Straw
We who were Barren,
Came upon this Babe –Â
In a time when we thought,Â
The seed had died, the last word had been said.
Twas strange, the way
A perfect God,Â
Could take on human flesh, and be found in a Manger.
When all I saw was a Stranger.
Â
In my own humanity,Â
He claimed Authority —
And as I stared into His eyes,Â
Face to Face,
I saw that He fully knew me,Â
though I did not know him.
What mystery was this?
That the Mirror I’d help us so many years,
Dimly reflecting,
The humble hope my soul had held,
Would become a Shadow –
A Shadow of true love beheld,
A Shadow of Seed birthed,
A Shadow of Joy unearthed.
Â
Stone
Then a child grew,
But not before He showed me,
My childish ways.
He told me to leave them behind, and follow Him
Into His Father’s House -Â
And the first to strike a Stone,
Would be blind to things unknown.
I rushed to grip Time,
And interpret all the signs.
But He simply spoke, in true form,
And truth laid a foundation.
The Eternal Branch stretched,
Far above my sight,
Far wider than my reach.
East of Eden, and
West of my watch,
He saw things in His periphery
That reached the corner of every soul.
Wonderful Counselor come,
Wiser than Witnesses,
And Weeping with women —
For the love of ones unborn;
for the love of ones who died.
Brokenness for wombs,
Resurrection brought to tombs.
Even Lazures knew His Hand,
Even lepers saw Him in their Land
Wood
The lines of His face,
Stretched toward me like grace,
And out of Dry Ground,
He uttered not a Sound
His silence, my salvation –
The unlovely Lord;
A friend to Grief
Holding my sorrows,
Today and Tomorrow.
How could this child,
Die such a death so wild?
Pierced through His hands, my pride –
I saw Him love, while He died.
But even in Anguish, the Light –
Pierced through the darkness, my spite.
And all of my hopes and fears,
Weighting down through the years,
Were met in Him tonight.
Glass
Fear reflected in the Mirror,
As the Savior drew nearer and nearer –
Face to Face he came,
And something familiar, the same –
Now Pierced through His eyes to my soul,
Filling all of my earthly holes.
And in that moment, I saw,
The veil be stripped to raw,
The raw look of love on me –
Had been locked for Eternity.
My Keeper, His gaze prolonged,
Like the best of all love songs.
And it seems that the Babe in the Manger,
Seemed nothing like a Stranger.
For He had known me, fully forever;
And nothing had it ever made it sever.
Oh, silent night of my Soul,
Sings of prophesies foretold,
And even buried in Winter,
Dreams can sing through splinters.
And thorns today -Â
Will soon, pass all away.
For now, at this Manger I’ll stay,
From night to noon to new days.
—
Grow, give birth my friend –
For death is not the end.
And, in these quiet hours,
When desires have oft soured,
A seed is growing clear,
Through our tears and fears.
Peeking through the Veil,
Stands a Savior whose power never fails.
The miracle still comes,
His work isn’t done.
The vision awaits its appointed time,
And the Manger is the sign.
The Manger is the sign.
