Came to Believe

Last night a thought came to my mind,
Returned, I meant to say;
Of what to ask for, from you, Lord,
That we might have today.

You taught your fellows just before
Your exit from the scene;
It took a while for them to grasp
Just what your words might mean.

We have a record of their first
Quite bumbling efforts made
To implement your words back then,
As they their futures laid.

Two even got their mom to ask
For what they most desired;
That put them in the ballpark, though
Still in old concepts mired.

You'd said to them, in several ways,
“Attend to what is there
Within your being – strong belief –
Especially in prayer.

“For whatsoever rises up
In prayer-time as belief
That you've received, then ask for that –
For that you have received.”

Once, when up north, I fetched the mail,
And walked to do that chore;
I mailed our order for some things
We wanted from the store.

“A parcel’s come for you, my friend”
The clerk then said to me;
I puzzled was, I could not think
What this strange thing could be.

She asked if I would take it now
Or come with my skidoo,
“Because quite bulky is the box,
What do you wish to do?”

I saw it was a carton of
New Pampers from our mom;
I said, “I'll take it with me now
Lest I be ‘son-of-gun’.

I stumbled back the mile to home
Unpacked the box with glee –
The baby now had diapers,
Nice serendipity!

So that, to me, it's what you meant,
In your words of advice;
When something has arrived for you,
Accept it, for it's nice –

For all the parcels we are sent
From God are ‘fish’ not ‘snake’
He knows our needs before we ask,
Accept – for Goodness sake.

When we in prayer come to believe
A parcel we've received,
Accept delivery, take it home,
Unpack what's there to see.

Sometimes directions come with it,
‘Assembly – some required’;
Or, ‘plug it in and turn it on
To have what you desired.

But other times a learning curve
Attends the gifts we're given;
Long years of practice must occur
Before sports-mastery heaven.

Some gifts require a team to use;
Sometimes we read alone;
Sometimes they are a tool to dig,
Sometimes a seed that's sown.

But most important to our thought –
Re: orders we've sent in –
Sometimes we get them by and by,
But here's where we begin –

Begin with what we have received
At depot or around;
In prayer become aware, and then
Accept what has been found.

In cultures of abundance here,
We're apt walk right by
The blessing for our brand-new start,
Dismiss it with a sigh.

It's prayer where often we can see
For real what we've received;
And when we do, a firmness comes
To what we now believe.

Then off we go, accepting what
May well already be
Within our purview, but our eyes
Were blind – but now we see.

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