# Except a Corn of Wheat\.\.\.Die

Language: en  
Author: \-Linda Lapp  
Original issue: The Heartbeat of The Remnant, July/August 2005, Number 4  
Source pages: 14  
Read article: <https://remnant.truechristian.church/en/poetry/article-40f96de8-cd9d-4e7d-8780-778b255149f5/>
Original PDF: 2005\-07\-08\-remnant\.pdf
[The Heartbeat of The Remnant, July/August 2005](<https://remnant.truechristian.church/en/issues/heartbeat-remnant-2005-07/>)

![The poem Except a Corn of Wheat\.\.\.Die printed over a close view of wheat](<https://remnant.truechristian.church/images/articles/40f96de8-cd9d-4e7d-8780-778b255149f5-1.jpg>)

**I seemed to walk with the eye of my mind,  
Through a field of sun\-ripened grain;  
Rippling, it swayed in the cool evening breeze,  
As I pondered a “death\-life” of pain\.**

**I bent to retrieve a single, full stalk  
Of that richly nourishing wheat,  
And thought as I gazed at the fruit in my hands,  
Of the life made by death complete\.**

**Before there was fruit, before there was life,  
A kernel of wheat had to die;  
And from that surrender, LIFE sprang upward,  
A promise of fruit multiplied\.**

**I lifted my tear\-filled eyes to the sky,  
And whispered, “My Lord, can it be,  
That fruit of a life consumed by Your love  
Is found but in death’s victory?”**

**He turns to me; Oh the love on His face\!  
As He whispers in accent so low,  
“My child, the fruit you are longing for,  
Is found in death’s chilling woe\.”**

**"One kernel of wheat falls into the ground,  
Its death gives way to new life;  
Even so as you die to willful desire,  
Life springs from death’s sacrifice\.”**

**“Your agenda, your will, your purpose in life,  
The visions and dreams of your soul,  
Must fall on the ground of surrender’s soil,  
Should abundant fruit be your goal\.”**

**“I’ve put in the center of each corn of wheat,  
The prospect of life\-giving fruit,  
And oh how I thrill when through death its increase  
Is made plain in Christ\-filled pursuit\.”**

**Awed at the marvelous ways of my God  
Glad that His ways exceed mine,  
I turn my tear\-stained face toward His voice,  
And whisper, “My Lord, let me die\!”**

**“Death to myself, and death to my dreams,  
Yes, death to the things I hold dear;  
Oh give me but death, that the fruit You deserve,  
May in turn Thy Great Name revere\.”**

**“My Lord take this fruit, sprung from death unto life,  
And grind it to finest of meal\.  
Make bread for the hungry to feast and be filled;  
Broken bread\. Thus death’s final seal\.”**