Please Lead

God I’m here,
Doing my best to follow Your lead.

It is only by Your grace that my steps are not my own.
I repeatedly fail.
To some I may not fall,
But Your standard is great,
To that I will never reach.

All I can do is follow.
It is certainly best I do not lead.

Make Your Spirit my closest friend.
A guide that I follow through thick and thin.

This is the only way I will not falter.
Your yoke is easy, make my path straight.

Allow me to overflow with passion for You.
This is all You ask,
Yet even this I cannot do on my own.

Lead me to the foot of the cross,
Taking my every step while gazing at Your gift to humanity.

You didn’t have to do it.
But of this I lose sight.
Steady my vision,
On the cross I must focus.

Solitude

Solitude is the furnace for transformation.
       - Henry Nouwen


Solitude is a beautiful thing.  It is in solitude that one must reckon with who they are.  This term solitude is used loosely, however.  We are never really alone, God's there.  It is our choice whether we recognize His existence or make our time of solitude a time to commune with Him.  If we are intentional, if we long for His double-edged sword to cut into our soul, untangling the thorns and allowing the flowers to bloom, the transformation will be glorious.  The furnace will have left us refined, and utterly transformed.