His Image

This is a poem I wrote a year ago. Hope you enjoy it.

I expect to find His image
Looking down in the valley
The jagged horizon beyond
Sunshine bringing every detail
Closer, clearer in the growing dawn
This wrinkled, billowed landscape
Ageless and silent, but wild
And reckless as it worships
Steals the breath of the child
Who alone bears His image.

I look for it in the
Perfect song, sweetest phrase
Of melody ringing clear
See it float above a deeper hum
Of harmony, like a tear
Glistening in its path
Small, but meaningful and real
'Till a rush of gold of red
Swells the heart's appeal
That alone bears His image.

Then I sought it in man
Paralyzed by fear
Painted in false cheer
Hiding deep-rooted tears
Deaf to the love in his ears
Stamped in choices for the coming years

And here

In this tangled, twisted heart
You insist that glory dwells
The image of the One I scorned
The very height from which I fell
Echoes on and on in me
And the universe knows the truth
That sin and death are my creation
But my Creator is You!

The battle is not so much
Man's can't against man's can
Or man's success against man's failings
As it is God against man.

So strike the final blow
And make me fully Yours
I long to give You all I am
And live a life outpoured
On the alter of greatest grace
Where before the world began
You put Your image--not in music
Or mountains, but in the heart of man
That we might know You
Not just as a fearsome Creator
But as the One who loves the weak
And in broken vessels the Sustainer
Of His image.