If I Keep My Head Down

“If I keep my head down, I will get my way;
If I keep my mouth shut, I'll not have to pay;
If I act quite normal, not reacting much,
They'll provide my living, benefits and such.

“If I am not pushy, showing them desire,
If I act quite passive, look what I'll acquire;
If I play my cards right, I will win this hand;
If I stuff my feelings, they will under-stand.”

What's the price of living, given that approach?
What's it going to cost her, dodging ’round reproach?
What's the hope she suffers, opting from the real?
Who's the end-time loser, of her sex-appeal?

She's grown up a charmer, learned to bat her eyes;
She's a better person, under that disguise;
She's not chosen wisely, sold out for a dime,
Which became a pattern – now it's all the time.

Such the cost of lying, that's how much it pays,
With their will complying doing what each says –
Builds a useless fortune not expressing worth,
Buying what is given from another's turf.

Then one day they waken, ashes in their hands;
Looking at the desert, each then understands –
Start at the beginning in some ripe old age
Learn your childhood lessons – “Worth is what one pays”.

Talk is worse than useless, (empty words these days);
Actions aren't much better, (lying with one's ways);
Money is the secret, when it's tied to work –
Worth's seen in one's spending, even by a jerk.

Jesus asked a question in his clever ways:
“Tell me if you're willing – actively”, He says,
“Skip the talk of wishing I'd help other ways;
Take me for a sucker – you're the one who pays”.

Jesus pushed their motives, dug down to the rock,
There he build foundations, not on surface talk;
"Easy ways of childhood harden to cement,
When the flood's abated, guess who's building went?"

We can fool our parents, teachers, bosses, friends;
Play them all for suckers, time and time again;
In the end we're losers, for we do not learn
“Values in the spending money which we earn”.

Putting out's the challenge facing us in life;
Something bought for nothing, though it looks quite nice
Isn't worth the trouble, dragging it around,
Sucking up our interest, indistinct it’s sound.

Choice – God’s great invention, we engage with life,
Learn it now or later in the midst of strife –
Choose one life-time partner, hobby, or career,
Push for satisfaction of desire that's dear.

One way to ensure that value is the base,
Ask, “What would I pay now, if that were the case?
With my hard-earned money – not some other's cash”
Then we get the picture – value here or trash?

Finite are the hours, limits to our years;
Strength declines (though wisdom often times appears);
Health is often fickle; contexts shift with time;
We know this – so, value? “Hard-earned cash that's mine”.

Daddy buys the blue jeans, toys, and my guitar;
Value to me? little. It exists, by Gar,
Hidden in my storehouse, there with my desires,
If I let it stay there, nothing soon inspires.

Cree approach to problem? Gifts are never whole;
There must be a reaching (maturation goal);
'Everything' is nothing – active-willing counts;
Wishing-life is empty – low or high amounts.

So let's start this over, take it from the top;
“Too late” is not ever, as this road we walk;
Douglas's solution – “Pull away a spell,
They'll fill in the spaces, soon all will be well.”

Co-dependent living comes up to the fore
(We're complicit partners in this game of “more”) –
Pressing to foundations, build on solid rock –
Gives to us a challenge in our easy walk.

That's where others learn it, watching what we do –
Picking up the patterns, putting them to use;
Kids have great antennas for the lesser things
We portray in living, even though it stings.

Me? I've been quite foolish living out my faith –
I jump in, am helpful (often not the case);
People learn the hard way ’bout the facts of life –
Shelter is not helpful, toughness comes in strife.

Hey – they will not perish, great are their reserves;
Pulling back's the answer (zest in life preserves);
Draw them out from hiding, let them feel the thrill
Of a life-engagement of their active will.

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