

GOD IS LOVE
Suppose, for the sake of argument,
A friend and I
are lost at sea.
God comes by in a
rescue craft,
To save my friend and me.
Since I'm a Christian, saved by Grace,
I raise both arms to God.
He sails by and saves my
friend,
Which, to me, seems very odd.
As I go down, God circles 'round.
At my last breath, He throws
a line.
I grab a hold ... I'm
rescued, too,
But I'm confused about
God's time.
Did God not see my outstretched arms?
Did He forget my
Christian past?
Why did He rescue my friend
first,
And make me wait 'til last?
When I first became a Christian,
I longed for God so bad.
As I think back
to my old reasons,
These were the ones I had.
First, I wanted His forgiveness,
Then, since I felt so much alone.
I wanted Him to join me,
To be my Father in my home.
I wanted Him to solve my problems,
Be my caretaker and guide.
My comforter, my teacher,
To provide a place
where I might hide.
So much I asked of God,
And He gave it all to me.
Topped it
off with my Salvation,
Which I had
begged for selfishly.
The more blessings that God gave me,
The more I seemed to seek.
The more I had, the
more I wanted,
I found I had a greedy
streak.
I think I'd grown possessive, too,
That I wanted God for me alone.
No wonder
that He chose me last,
To be
pulled up from that foam.
True, He did come back for me,
And that He
did not let me drown.
But I think
He wanted me to know,
I'd missed
a lesson most profound.
All the time I sought Him out,
For
my own self-centered aims.
He, in
turn, was seeking me,
With the
real reasons why He came.
God is Love. He's made of Love,
The message is simplistic.
And
with His Love, all else would come,
So simple, I had missed it.
If I accept this Love of God's,
And, in His way,
return it.
Then some
of God will in me dwell,
And perhaps
I will have earned it.
So, in that ocean situation,
With concern for my friend's soul.
I should have prayed, "God save him,"
God's already made me whole.
Virginia (Ginny) Ellis
copyright 1999