Skip to main content

Well of Grace


We are all born sinners.  None of us are exempt from this debilitating fact.  Dark creatures we are, hiding amongst hardened “rock hearts” and stinging weeds.  Not one of us is good, not by our own stout.  Our legs are weak and our arms are limp with guilt.  In us, ebon souls like cave coal.  We are filthy rags, waiting to be washed clean of blackened wrongs.  Lowly people we are, waiting to be restored.  Purified from foulness?  Yes, we can be cleansed of all this vile clay.  How?  By the grace of God, we can be redeemed! 

God’s grace is like pure water at the bottom of a mossy well.  The refreshing, calm stillness calls, waiting for our wretched hands to pull up “born-again bucket”.  Our feet walk through “lost wildwood”.  We trek, run, crawl, looking for “found meadow”.  Mire and wicked muck cover the “soul path” while we search for everlasting waters.  “Doubting dust” blinds our eyes to the glorious, renewing of the christened cross. 

Grow faith seeds along the trail to hidden, yet seen “well of grace”.  The refreshing, sanctifying savior is softly calling from the well waters.  “Tis here!” He calls.  To “well of grace” make haste, do not take slowly pace.  Take a saving taste!  Dip hands in holy waters.  Wash face clean of old.  Well echoes, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, you’re free at last!” 



 
Well of Grace

I come to the well of dewy grace
Violet vines twist and knot
preventing a sweetened,
newborn taste

Rose thorns of folly past
prick and nick,
guilt marks scar
Rags of filth and wicked mire
are my dreadful sire
My aged, sinful hands
are my bolts and templates
What evil coils and lowly bands!

Unworthy, nettlesome weed am I!
I? Come before this gracious well?
Blackened, smudged sinner, wretched
I? Come before holy mist?

Treading through defiled grove
Satan cunningly lurks
“Sinner, so fruitless.
Worthless wormwood maple!
Frost-death peach tree!
Crumbling trespasser,
splintering transgressor,
shamefully dying.”
Bold-face lies! Must be curt!

Come to bucket of snowy gospel
Tear, shear briar of deceit
“I am the way, the truth, and the light.”
Well of grace, commandingly speaks


I, forgiven sinner
humble and meek
Finally, grace and mercy
my drink


Well of grace
My submissive soul
makes haste!
Sublime nectarous taste!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Memory Day" Memories

“Memory Day” Memories   August 11 th , 2008 will always be etched in my mind.   Why? Do you ask?   That was the day the leading man in my life went home, my dad, Bob J. O’Banion.   He was my encourager, support system, teacher, boulder, and most importantly, a godly leader.   When you needed a hand, both of his calloused hands were there to hug, shake, and give you a pat on the back.   When you needed Christian advice, his wisdom traveled from his can line to yours.   With the can pressed against your ear, you’d hear, “God is the way, the truth, and the light.”   He was a true definition of a man, a sovereign man.   Integrity made him a humble guide through the Blueridge Mountains, the dry desert, and beyond.   Love lined his face with deep canyon wrinkles.   He sought and dug ditches to provide.   The rooftop was his “day home”.   Sun-tanned skin branded him a “sweat by the brow” toiler.   Family sto...

Seasonal Change

The loss of my dad still hurts, especially when seasons change.  . For those who have lost a loved one, the aching still seems to pulsate through the cracks left upon our hearts.  . Seasonal change can breeze in bronzes of bereavement. It can fall with ambers of aches and molasses colored missing.  . For me, this is true about Autumn. The leaves change once again, and my dad’s memory wafts o’er red-roofed wishing wells. The shallow water collects pennies of “wish you were here” under Birch trees.  . Seasons and holidays blow in memories that patina the past.  . Those who have lost a parent, we think upon childhood memoirs. Instances where we held our mom or dad’s hands, while strolling under amber stained glass etched with maple leaves.  . I think upon harvest memories where the jack-o-lanterns flow, and the crockpot chili steams in bowls.  . My dad walks behind my brother and I as we prance towards candy. In seasonal memory “trick-or-treats” bounce of...

Climb the Rope of Hope

  I have to admit, I’m feeling a dew drop of sadness today. I was supposed to go to a RV show with friends, but decided to stay home. Why did I stay home? I miss my dad. It’s been almost 12 years and I still ache for him. I miss his love and his godly guidance (I’m crying as I write this post). I couldn’t go trudge in and out of memories. I couldn’t go up and down steps of the past. My heart couldn’t bear the weight of camper-sized flashbacks.  When I was growing up, we were a band of gypsies, as my dad called us. We traveled the highway and byways of America in our RV. We’d laugh and play games. We’d have conversations about God’s beauty. We’d bond as a family, as a God braided clan. That bond has made me grieve a hard grief. That closeness clamors my heart with the dad category of love. I don’t grieve on a daily basis anymore. The wounds of loss have healed. The scar is not as prevalent. But, the missing still resides. The missing still dews rosy teardrops.  ...