Missions

Let me never grasp my comfort and ease
When You ask me to leave it behind
I want to know blessings greater than these
The raw, hungry fulness I'll find
In escaping the confines of what I possess,
Security, safety's pretense
And giving chase where I'll accept nothing less
Than all of You, at every expense.

Help me not mistake Your voice
Because it rasps or sounds off-key
Keep me from making the mistaken choice
Of lofty success over simplicity.

Teach me to see Your fingerprints
In the dirt and sweat and tears
I don't want to miss the smallest glimpse
Though it pricks my petty fears

I know it's a shallow love that doesn't hurt
It's an empty heart that will not give
It's in my clean, safe fortress of comfort
That I'm a victim of life not lived

Let me never hold back the smallest measure
Of strength, devotion or zeal
And invest in a pretending treasure
What should be poured into the Real.

I want to know You.  Not just the part that is easy on my soul and warms my bones; I want to know You in Your suffering.  I want to know Your wealth in my poverty, Your fulness in my emptiness, Your strength in my weakness, Your joy in my sorrow, Your painful beauty.  Give me courage to lay it all down and follow You.