The best poem I’ve ever written

If you follow my blog, then you know 2 things: one, I post every Thursday, and two, I write mostly as an exercise to get better as a writer.  That means that I’m not necessarily writing anything for you or anyone else to read as much as I’m writing for an audience of One (but I’m glad you do and it’s a bonus to see people like, share, retweet and comment on the things I post).

But today is different.  This morning I woke up feeling strongly that I needed to dust off an almost 30-year old poem that I wrote sitting in the Student Center on the campus of Pfeiffer University (which was Pfeiffer College when I was there) back in 1985.  It was a time in my life when I felt oppressed by the burden of big dreams in a small town.  I felt the pressure of the burdens that so many people I loved were carrying along with the ones of my own.

And most of all, I felt like I was failing God because – as much as I loved Jesus – it seemed like my spiritual journey was a struggle that often felt more like retreat than victory.  Every been there?  Are you there now?

I don’t know what you do in those times, but I tend to write, and so, right there in the Knapp Sac snack bar, I started to put the following words on a blank page in the back of my Bible.  What you’re about to read happened in a minute, but it changed my attitude about struggles and victory for a lifetime.

My prayer for you today – whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever you’re facing – is that you would find peace and value in the fight and know that nothing you’ve faced in this life, no amount of pain or disappointment, has been or will be wasted by God.  As another Paul wrote long before I wrote what I did,

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (2 Corinthians 4:17, NLT)

If what I wrote encourages you as well, how about leaving a comment and letting me know how God used it to help you?  And take the time to share it, too, because neither you nor I know who needs to read this, and the 10 seconds it takes you to share it on Facebook and Twitter could be all it takes for someone who is in the middle of a battle to remember that God sees them right where they are, and Who, “in Christ always leads us in triumph.” (2 Corinthians 2:14, ESV)

HOMECOMING

Everyone in heaven watched
As he staggered to the throne.
Another warrior –
Bruised and beaten –
Who was finally coming home.

He looked around and quickly noticed
That he wasn’t quite the same
As all the others
Who were there
And he could feel their puzzled stares.

He looked at God and then he knew
Why he was different from the rest:
Their armor shone,
But his was worn.
He bowed his head – he was alone.

He thought of all the other warriors
And of how well they must have fought
The fires of life
To still come through
With armor shining as if new.

He then glanced at himself in shame
And wondered where he had gone wrong?
His sword was nicked,
His shield was bent
And his soldier’s suit was dull.

And then God, knowing all his thoughts,
Reached down in love and picked him up.
“Your armor’s dull
Because you fought.
Their armor’s shiny ’cause they did not.”

And then God placed him by the throne
And told the warrior he was home.
The soldier smiled –
Then God reached down –
And placed upon his head a crown.

© 1985 Paul Jenkins. All rights reserved.

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