Dream Parable

He was always there when I needed him 

When I asked for help he was there 

When I asked, "Can someone steady me?" 

He did that and much more. 

He lifted me off my feet to give me a better view, and when 

His arms grew shaky, 

And he had to put me down, 

He didn't fear to lift me up again~ 

  He went with me to see 

What he had never seen 

Except by the picture through my lens. 

Even though the danger was great and protection small, 

We faced the great unknown, 

But we walked hand in hand, 

As I have always longed~ 

  When danger came, 

And peril drew his sword, 

We ran away and fought the evil way, 

Into the deepest corner of safety we fled, 

And our lives were preserved. 

The greatest danger now was not the one outside the walls. 

The love that bound us close, 

Meant to justify the act, 

But Jesus Christ's dear words were strong within our hearts. 

I had almost stumbled, and tripped the one I loved, 

All for the sake of that love, 

The love we need to flee from~ 

  But then came the most difficult trials, 

The ones that we had to face alone, 

The next trial that I had, 

And the arms that once had held me, 

Were now nowhere to be found. 

Lust had tried to snare me, 

And pride had tried to kill, 

But I withheld those struggles, 

Because now the arms that held, 

Were the arms of my Savior. 

And I prevailed, but only with His kind words in my ear, 

And only in His arms could I feel secure~ 

  Now worry tried to trip me, 

And panic tried to crush, 

These evils almost had a grip, 

But my Savior chopped their hands away, 

He said, "My beloved is not a thing for you, you thieves and murderers,

  she is Mine and in My loving arms no one can snatch her away..." ~ 

  Now I know, Christ is my protection 

No matter whose arms lift me off my feet, 

The lions that tried to harm me, well, they were kittens in His eyes, 

For His commands the creatures, the mountain, and the skies. 

A love He gave to me, that day, 

One who will last till death due us part, 

But now come out of hiding, for I want you to hold me again. 

But when you do this time, 

I'll still be in my Lover's arms, for He'll never let me go, 

And I'll never want to leave. 

So lift me up, but never bring me down.~

What about you?

Okay, I want you to get this picture in your head. Ready?
A quiet meadow, stretching for endless miles...like a sea, calm and still. It's so quiet that you can hear the grass shifting in the wind, a gentle breeze. The sun is a warm yellow, and it's light is gently warming your skin. The sky above is littered with puffy white clouds that are moving lazily over the horizon. It is a picture of peace and happiness. The opposite picture is a picture of the the sea. The waves are catastrophic, they stretch over your head for miles, and you are covered, drowning, struggling. In despair. You can see the chaos overhead, as you look up through the water, to the lightning striking the water, and the rain pelting and beating the surface. Below you see blackness, endless water, despair. Nothing. You're sinking, and you though you struggle to break the surface, you only sink deeper, and deeper, to the bottom. Until all you see is blackness.
Whatever you do, whatever you try, the darkness pulls you. You want to cling to the peace, the stillness, the love, but the darkness pulls, and pulls, the despair, the grief, the hopelessness. You can't do anything. You're lost. I'm found, but still, sometimes, I too am lost. Drowning in hopelessness.

Take away my capacity for pain and you rob me of the possibility for joy. --Ross W. Marrs

Dreamer

There is a road leading from my house,
Into the world it goes like a child leaving home;
It wanders here and there,
Merging and breaking away,
Coming back and leaving.

Upon this road I travel,
But only in mind and heart;
It calls to me like a bluebird,
Then shuns me like a ghost.

This road I talk about can be,
It seems, a very strange place to be
It calls to me then turns me swiftly away
As if my place there is not for me,
But in turning away I glance behind,
Just to see a glimpse of my dream fading behind...

Dreams and Roads, you see, walk hand in hand
At times they love each other, like a pair of newly-wedded lovers,
But at other times they hate and turn away from each other
Hardly knowing why their hands don't slip apart
But little do they know that Fate,
Their hard-faced mother, holds them swiftly to each other.

But there I go again, lost in memories
Fate is not their mother
Like they are not newly-married lovers

Amidst all of this chaos
Is a still mind and a peaceful heart
Because the heavy chains that bound me
Vanished like my dreams.

The road I used to travel,
Well it's all gone away
For I've turned down another
Full of light, and joy, and peace

From there my Savior and my Lover
Will lead me forever on
Until my road will come to an end
Like my dreams did long ago.