“Fathers And Sons” (Genesis Ch.12-23)

When I look down upon upcoming road
Upon which soon I’ll say, “On that I strode –
Upon that stage of life held early faith,
That God “would aye support, so best I wait” –

I think of Abraham in father’s role
To Isaac; for as parents there’s a toll
Which we must pay as we encounter self,
When aspects of our youth come off the shelf.

For Abe, of course, the issue was the “Yes” –
“Amen to all”, and “Gifts which were the best”;
No problem there – but that’s just half of love
(Or hate) expressed – “No” Took a Shove –

To learn the hard way – Isaac saw it all –
“Old Pop cannot say “No” – that I can tell;
Until he can, he’s dangerous to all;
And as his son, I might well take the fall.

Well, sure enough, the day came for the test –
When God said, “Sacrifice your very best”;
Which Abe thought meant his only son and heir;
But he heard wrong – (new freedom lingered there).

It’s like when I am talking with my wife –
The things I think I hear, said in the night,
Are what I “heard” of what she said – take heed!
Our hearing can get bent from inner need.

So Abe took Isaac up to Zion’s Hill,
A patch of barren rock though “Yes-school” still
Was carried on – Melchizedek the key
Administrator there, who “Give” could see.

That was where Abe had gone to school himself;
Learned “Love” and “Give” and “Yes” – he’d often tell
His kith and kin, “That’s nature of one God –
But few held up this view – it seemed so odd.

But still Abe had not settled in his mind,
If God required the sacrifice of kind
He’d known between the rivers of his home –
“One God” he’d seen – but not God’s inner tone.

So, first he “heard” God say “Give up the kid”;
Which set the stage – could God at last get rid
Of early misconception held by man,
That human sacrifice was in God’s plan?

It seems God’s not afraid to walk with us
Through misconception’s tension, rack. And fuss,
That in and through such process we might see
More clearly what God wishes there to be.

So Abe set out, took kid, rope, wood and knife,
With mumbled answer, “God will give a life
For us to sacrifice when we arrive”
(Though Isaac knew that meant he’d not survive).

For kids must learn their lessons in such mess
As Isaac faced with father’s “Faithfulness” –
He saw quite clearly – “Dad cannot say no”
And ’till he can, no way that I’ll let go” –

“Refusing to attend dad’s former school
Where dad learned “Yes” and “Give” as way that’s cool),
“For love with only “Yes” and “Give” is sick;
Abe doesn’t see that “no” is half of “quick””.

A stubborn teen (like us, as I recall)
Said nothing to his dad, “What e’er befall
Is his affair, for if he cannot see
My “no” – then stubborn heart he has, like me”.

In nick of time, Abe saw – mistake was his –
That love expressed in only “Yes” and “Give” is
Just a part – there’s “No”, “Withhold”, and such;
So sacrificed the ram (there, raising fuss).

But now we see a subtle story twist –
The part which all my reading somehow missed –
Abe went back home – where’s Isaac in this scene?
He stayed to go to “yes-school” – there had been –

A change in son as father’s melted heart
Could now say “No” in life, he’d seen its start;
He could relax and face what he had shunned
And learn the “Yes” and “Give” – so he’d become –

A man imbued with both ways to express
His love (and hate, for which we all confess) –
The dial says “Yes” and “Give” with other side
Expressing “No”, “Withhold” – both can abide –

As options – which can serve the task at hand,
And work for others’ welfare in our land;
“No” and “Withhold” can loving be as well,
With only “Yes” and “Give” – life’s living hell.

Thanks Lord for this.

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