The Dirt, by Robert A. Rowlett
You pray and pray and think and think but you can’t figure out the road you need to take.
You cry yourself to sleep all day long
With no direction, you wander alone
Beaten down, you settle on the ground with no place to go
Your body sinks slowly into the dirt
You can’t move or think or know
God has left you there to die. He’s given up on you and you don’t know why.
You hate yourself, you don’t know how this happened.
You never asked for this and you never wanted it to work out this way.
Laying in the dirt, the first rain drop touches your forehead and you begin to cry
Why did this happen to me?
How did this happen to me?
What could I have done differently?
How can I get out of this place? How can I escape? How can I fly?
Suddenly you feel a hand on your shoulder. The hand of Someone who cares.
You feel their intense love flow through your body through their touch, unawares
Suddenly hope resurges and you know something can happen.
Something great. Something divine.
You look up to see His eyes blazing into yours. His glance reaches deep into your very soul. Without a word, He knows who you are, where you’ve been, and what’ve you been through
He pulls on your shoulder and begins to pull you up out of your lack of control.
The dirt falls from your clothes as He brings you back to life and makes you new.
He resurrects your stance.
For the first time in a long time you put your foot on the ground.
You begin to push your weight back up and look up to take a glance
Power and will come back into your core. You know in that moment that you can stand again.
He grabs your hand and helps you the rest of the way.
You put your second foot on the ground as you begin to sway
Suddenly, you are almost standing on your own two feet, as you begin to ascertain: your night has finally turned to day.
Power coming back into your knees, growing in strength by the minute, you keep pushing yourself back up.
He lets go. Though shaking and weary, you are standing once more.
When you thought you were dead and beyond strength, He helped you win your mind
The battle has been moved from the head to the heart. Now you must keep yourself standing.
With the resolve He’s placed inside you must leave the ground behind.
You stare ahead as a soldier. You will not bow to the ground again. You have what it takes to take a step. To move forward and move away from where you’ve been.
With eyes of fire, you take a step of pure determination. You make the muscle move that can’t and you walk forward, having experienced fear, knowing you may one day end up in that dirt again.
But you look back and see the face of the One who helped you pull yourself up.
If you ever give up again, you know He will be there to take your hand.
Because that’s who He is, that’s how He works.
He always shows up when things look their worst.
He will never leave nor forsake you, He’s always around.
Because you’re His child and He will never let you be bound.
Fear and anxiety cannot hold you down because in fact He’s inside of you, moving all around.
His energy pulses through your very veins, His life sustaining you and pushing you through your pains.
His love cannot be measured because its size is beyond measurement
He loved you to the point of bloody death and hell on earth
To bring you the love and the peace you don’t deserve.
(C) 2014 Robert Rowlett