There are many gifts in God’s great creation
All part of His great economy of the order of things
The gift of breath
The gift of song and of music
The gift of life, of image, of love
The gift of all things
The gift of even --dare I say it-- death
He gifted all things that are

All is gifted unto us
All is given by the Triune God
In all gifted, there was still incompleteness
There was nothing to respond to God
So constructed into the image of God
Comes a gift better than any gift before given
With the breath of God flowing to our lungs
Wearing a crown of the honor and glory of God

This gift, these people- Us
He says to explore
He says to see the world that we have been gifted
To unwrap the gifts given
To gift our gifts to the world that we are exploring
But there was this problem, a tree
It was not a gift, in fact it was forbidden
Yet still, we unwrapped it, we took that which was not ours to take

We were overcome by death
Overcome by udder sadness
Overcome by sickness, and hurt
By this torturous, terrible thing
This terrible stolen anti-gift
And for it we paid a hefty price
We lost all we were
We lost all we were meant to be

No longer did we fulfill our meaning
Where we were to be gift givers
Where we were to be life to the world
Where we were to bless all things
We took that which was not offered
We broke our relationship with God
Not only did we suffer
But all creation suffered with and due to

Then came a new gift
A gift to restore
A gift to be freely taken
Yet a gift of great responsibility
This gift would set free
But also bind
This was a gift of all gifts
This was a gift to end all gifts

God Himself became man
Offering Himself unto death
So that all things could be made new
So all that was sad would become untrue
Now, as we were once to be
We could, ourselves, be gifts to the world
Blessing the world
Giving life to a lifeless

Our gifts were joined with Christ
With this gift, we would become like the gift we were
More like it than ever before
For Christ makes us more human than we've ever been
Where we would offer the world to The Father
And for the life of all things
Our priesthood would be restored
All things would be restored
All things would be made new
All sad things would come untrue
The world would be restored

Prepare the way!

The dead trees give off life
The barren branches grow green
The brown grass becomes lush
The flowers become fruitful
The sun shows its face
And the warmth shows proof
For spring has come

The months of dying have ended
The season of laments has drawn to a close
As warmth has come to our land
The frozen ground has thawed
As the snow has melted away
And the cold has left the air
For spring has come

We live in the cool morning
Dwell in the warm afternoon
Then sleep in the cold night
Spring has come
As our days get longer
And our nights become shorter
For spring is here

The air is filled with singing
We build houses and plant gardens
We wed and have sons and daughters
We fiind sons for our wives
And we give our daughters into marriage
And they too will have sons and daughters
And we seek peace in this warming spring

Time of growing has come about
A time where all sad things will come untrue
We will live for all good things
And the life of the world in which we live
We leave our small houses
And we venture into the unknown
For spring has come

We venture from our comfortable dwellings
Into centers of pain
To go to hell on earth
To give life to the lifeless
Hope to the hopeless
Life for the world
For all sad things are becoming untrue

For He will wipe away the tears from all eyes
Death will become no more
Pain will pass away from us
The season is changing
Crying and mourning will be but a memory
For all things will pass away in their time
And all things will be made new

This time of summer is coming
Spring has come
In this spring all is being made new
For The Lord is coming
But Summer will arrive
And all things will be new
For The Lord will have come

"It gets worse"
The words we all dread
Like wind blowing cold air
As if the winter were not yet cold enough
But it gets worse
And the cold air blows
Blows to freeze my flesh

Snow lays on the frozen ground
The world shining brighter than a Bride's dress
But the morning air is biting
The cold air is paining
It seems warm air will never come
And this winter will never end
But it gets worse

Before the warmth of Spring arrives
The snow will cast a white coat on the world again
The land will freeze once more
And people will die, perishing from the freeze
I only hope to live to see the spring
That I will breathe again when the winter passes
Because it gets worse

For the cold wind blows terrible air
And when it leaves, and it feels safe
It only returns, bringing back cold air
And over again and again, it repeats
For this winter will not end
This toil is one everlasting
And I only wish to die

But as I prepare to die
I feel a warm breeze
And I see the flowers blooming
And for the first time in what felt like years
I see the shining sun
And I feel the warmth on my face
For spring is coming

I then hear a calming voice call to me
"Come now, my love
My lovely one, come
See the winter is passed
The rains have come and gone
See the flowers blooming in the land
Hear the joyful singing of the season is come
The calling of the birds has begun
The trees ripen, the vines blossom
And we are given the beautiful fragrance of spring
Come now, my love
My lovely one, come"

For see, The Lord has come

What was made perfect became imperfect
That which was on high fell down low
That which was good became bad
All good things became new
And al things became bad
For fall had come

They had to leave the place where they had dwelled
To become strangers in this strange world
Never to enter that garden in which they had once lived
The gate to be guarded by an Angel for ever
Never again to enter this Paradise lost
For fall had come

The core of a fruit lay on the ground
And naked people stand trembling
Hiding from their loving Creator
Fearing the effect of their disobedience
Imagining a false god
Recreating their Creator

Creating their own Creator in their created minds
One that was angry and impatient
One that was vengeful and paining
Not one of love and grace
Not one of endless mercy and endless knowledge
Their Creator only loved them, His creation

For their protection, they were exiled
Becoming strangers in a strange land
Wandering East of Eden
Where the winter would come
The winter with all its ravages
And the freeze would choke the people of the land
But after the terrible winter comes the warmth of spring

They became darkened in their understanding
Alienated from the life of God
For their ignorance and hard hearts
They were born of flesh
And flesh they remained
Through the fall and the winter
But when spring arrives
So does the recreating of all things
And things will be made new
Sad things will come untrue

Men remember the fall
Fallen men and redeemed men alike remember
The fruit from the tree condemning
But only the men redeemed know what is to come
That in due time a fruit from the vine would save

He created man in His own image
He formed man from the dust of the ground
He breathed breath into the man's nostrils
And raised him up from the ground
He gave man the gift of life
He gave man the gift of companionship
And He gave man the greatness of the Garden
The paradise of Eden

In this beautiful garden
There were rivers flowing gracefully
And trees growing up beautifully
The beautiful summer was upon the earth
And in the garden was given to the man, a woman
A woman from his own bones, his own flesh
And they wed

But in this beautiful garden
In this paradise of Eden
Dark shadows lingered
God gave all things for the man
Except for one tree located at the garden’s center
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
And in the garden, more cunning than any other, was a serpent
A fallen servant of The Lord on High

The most beautiful of all created beings
This Fallen Angel who had warred against God
This Fallen Angel was cast down to earth down low
There on the earth he would walk
Going to and fro, and up and down upon it
The serpent, Satan, would challenge God
He questioned the commands of the Triune God
He asked questions that ought not be asked

He approached the woman, the man’s bride
He questioned the words of God
He told her to eat of the tree which she was commanded not
If she did, she would be like God
She would have knowledge of both good and evil
So she ate of the fruit of the tree
And the serpent was not incorrect
They understood good and evil, but distortedly
They were cut off from God
They were ashamed
And they had a lack of reconciliation with God

The summer had ended
The autumn was coming on the horizon
The cold air was soon coming
Seasons changing, times changing
But know, the summer will come again
In due time, what was good, now bad, will be made new again
And all things will be made new
Times will change
And the summer will return
For The Lord will have come

I wrote many poems
I wrote many songs
I even wrote of a life
Before I had even met you
Before I knew even of your existence

I wrote an entire book
This great adventure
Of love lost and gained
Of life gained and lost
This great journey of beautiful proportions

Then I met you
I saw your face, a familiar one
And I heard your voice, a calming one
Like I had seen you before
And I felt safe

In the eyes of someone I hadn't known
I saw beauty I had only before imagined
And as time wore on,
I saw your heart
I saw your beautiful soul

Then the rains came
The cold winter winds came
Blowing apart what we had built
But it was built on crooked foundations
And so it fell, as we allowed

And just like in the ruins of a city
A place once filled with hope
A place once filled with happiness
A place of celebration
The ruins became a lament

And for months lied those ruins
Drowned by flooding rains
Pounded by fierce winds
Covered by paralyzing snow
Then the spring arrived

With spring came the sun
And came the flowers of the fields
Came the singing of the birds of the trees
Came the gentle flowing of cold creeks
Came the beauty of new life

So too with the ruins of our city
When it became safe to do so
We rebuilt our walls
We reconstructed our towers
We resurrected our city

From the crumbling ruins of our once-great city
May come a city with more beauty than before
A city which could only come after the pain of winter
For if there had been no winter
The city in crooked foundations would stand, waiting to fall

So too with her
Had what seemed to have been good not ended
This new city could not be built
And an unstable city would remain
Waiting for a calm rain

But for now, we rebuild our city
Trying to restore its former glory
Where we want to make our home
This beautiful city-to-be
Rising from the rubble

We hope to rebuild
We hope to resurrect
We hope to restore
We hope to review
We hope not to redo
We hope for all to be good
In this beautiful new city-to-be

I can’t explain the reality of it
It’s the perfect mix
Between life & death, joy & pain, peace & war
It’s something everyone has
But deep down it’s truly unwanted
It’s the thing that links us to eternity
The thing we will all one day lose
It’s this life