Your Will

The familiar words
spill off the page,
falling onto my lap.
What? Really?
Joy is your will for me?

It sounds like
pollyanna pretense.
It is not how I imagine your will to be,
I protest, scooping the words into my hands.

Continual joy,
prayer and thanksgiving?
I hold the words up to you because I cannot do this, your will,
without your help.
Please, show me how.

And so you do, opening the eyes of my heart.
I see and feel myself, to my surprise, a child,
holding your hand, skipping along in sheer delight, so happy just to be with you.

You took the words
I held out to you
and gave me back
a tender image,
a visceral picture
of your meaning.

This is your will,
your invitation to us.
This is life as you designed it to be. Just this.
Thankful, joyful
to be with you,
holding your hand,
walking,
skipping at your side.

Constant joy is
being with you.
Continual prayer,
our hand in yours.
Ready to give thanks
in all circumstances, because
in all circumstances,
you are there.

——

Be joyful always. Pray constantly.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
For this is God’s will for you, in Christ Jesus.
I Thessalonians 5: 16-19

From Heaven at my Door by Juanita Ryan