What is the meaning of this dream…
this deep drive within my heart?
Is it real or just a fantasy,
a fleeting aberration on my mind?
Oh what wild and wondrous thoughts,
what mighty plans,
What gay hopes, designs supreme;
Service magnificent, His way alone!
And yet so out of reach,
A thousand hopes piled high—
A multitude of tasks still unfulfilled.
Where is reality in it all?
Wi th shackles numerous and real,
Holding, blocking, turning,
Keeping company with things
that use to be,
A status quo that dominates.
But still the vision comes,
A sunrise flooding all my days,
Foundations there of granite nobly laid
Sustained by grace divine
To stand upon this rock
What joy, what ecstasy,
To stand, to dream!
Those cold and wintry days,
They brought the spring to me,
A window to tomorrow
With all its doors to God!
The whisper of His voice,
The reassurance of His love,
The aspirations of my heart
Mingled in glad reality.
What was the message of those days,
That vision of the soul?
“That all the folks are common too,
With hopes and burdens so akin to mine
My fear of them was gone.”
Frustrations deep from babyhood and youth
Maligning my poor heart across the years,
With one vast sweep of His redeeming love,
Were cast aside—my heart was new!
From whence this strange peace,
This new confidence,
This burning thrust to do His will?
It was His gift!
But still the barriers stand
Like silent sentinels along the way,
Guards to contend with change,
To keep things as they are!
There’s weariness with tired feet,
And interruptions laying waste the days,
And poor achievement that breeds
A hopeless fog with the mind!
And then that lack of openness
That salts away the darker hours,
Spawned by these handicaps to hope.
Yet now of these shall win
Against the dream;
For I have found His grace,
And tomorrow has my claim!
(Jan. 17, 1969)