My life was always full of ease,
I ate and slept in summer’s breeze.
My parents, too, and other kin
Have healthy, full, e’ensated been.
Our only purpose we have known
To find more grass; we’re ne’er alone,
We live in welcome company
Of all our friends and family.
When enemies or pests accost
No time or energy is lost.
We huddle round or side by side
Defense for all the group provides.
Such close companionship is sweet
Our needs the streams and pastures meet
But lately I have heard the Call
That’s constant, clear, and goes for all.
Just yesterday I gazed awhile
Across the fields for many miles
The wide expanse lies fallow, bare.
It’s barrenness yields only tares.
And yon by Master’s tools, I see
An instrument, it seems to me
Whence all that sod would break and turn
Potential fruits which now are spurned.
The only lacking part, you see,
Which is of dire necessity
Is one or two to bear the yoke
To pull that plow; it needs my folk.
But wait! I see my Master kind;
He’s gathering rocks. I see the signs
Of something more I soon will learn
Of service true for which He yearns.
The rocks in order now He lays
As tier by tier an altar’s raised.
The wood he brings and all is set.
An offering free is needed yet.
And deep within myself I hear
A witness quiet, first, but clear.
It’s once again a task defined
For one like me or of my kind.
So as I contemplate, my sights
Are widened in my Master’s light.
I think I’ve started now to scan
The greatness of His perfect plan.
I yield myself, all Yours to use
For labors long my life I’ll lose.
Or may that altar be my place,
Aromas round Your throne to raise?
So if for work that bears much fruit,
Or off’ring full Your purpose suits,
My Lord, if life’s prime morn You’ll spend
That altar’s still a welcome end.
For now, dear Master, these lush fields
No lasting satisfaction yield.
How can I love perpetual ease,
Till altars burn and fruits increase?
So Lord, I give myself away,
For either or for both, I pray.
