An Geadh-Glas
for Brandon, who taught me to chase
Impossible
Untamed and invisible
So moves the Spirit
Like a might rushing wind
That's how you hear it call
Sure the Voice of God may be still and small
At times
But the heavenly flame bursts through
All that man confines it to
See true wind and fire
Are wild, they require
Definition with recognition
That the subjects scope and passion
Exceed the depth my poor words fashion
Can you contain divine elements?
Can you circle them with a fence?
Can you describe God completely
In a way that makes sense?
Even as I write
Questions say more than answers
And as I seek a pattern of
Stressed and unstressed
The freest flow works the best
And while my rhyming keeps getting messed up
And while I am serious
About making this poem snap and pop
I must stop
How can I do God poetic justice?
Like a child explaining the universe
The less I understand the more beauty I see
And that is how it needs to be
You see
God is infinity
I can never say it just right
Transcendent words are still finite
Try as I might
There is no way I can put all the truth of God into a poem
That does not rhyme and it never will
So from now on let’s just let the thoughts spill
Out
-----
Wild
The Spirit is wild
He is the breeze that
Laughs in the tall trees
The spring that burst through the rock
And gurgled where it pleased
The Ancients called Him the Wild Goose
Untamed, always loosed
Unhushable
Unquenchable
Unpredictable
But always chasable
And like all things made by God
As well as God
Indescribably beautiful
Why a goose and not a dove?
Why something so loud?
Is God domestic?
Do you scorn the Goose because He’s rustic?
Because He cannot be cowed
Into a cage so He can coo His love to you?
Life is a pilgrimage and not a pleasure cruise
You cannot have God take the form you choose
No matter your doctrinal views
It is best not to confuse
Your role and God’s
Who is to follow?
Who is to lead?
Life of godly devotion should be evidenced by constant motion
Not like saying prayers in a pew
It’s not about what you do
But where you go
If the Wild Goose calls, will you follow?
Or will you reside in the cage
You made for the dove
And nurse your pride
With self-love?
The Good is free
You should be too
Who can say they understand
All the things that God has planned?
Who can even say
“I know why God made this this way?”
You do?
And how do you know this to be true?
Not on your own, someone had to show you
Now who?
Many things are revelation
Not the least of which is God’s creation
But man must admit to his station
We know no truth without inspiration
And we know to be inspired
Means to be moved by something higher
You say you know it all
Why do you choose
To act so big when you are so small
And take glory from the Wild Goose?
If we know something
It is that we know nothing
The Bible says we cannot even pray
Without the Spirit
We don’t even have to words to say
But He interprets
So if we cannot even ask rightly
How do we act rightly?
Simple
Follow the Goose
“But, man, that doesn’t make sense!”
Easy there, who’s world is this?
Who’s wisdom did you just dismiss?
I’m sure you meant no offense
But your words smell of hubris
No one knows the mind of God
Except God and God’s Spirit
So without the Goose to guide us
God’s will, we won’t come near it
God’s deepest truth is mystery
God’s messenger is uncontained
Yet can be followed faithfully
Without needing to be explained
Who does God answer to?
Who tells Him what to do?
Which trials and journeys to use?
Questions say more than answers
The universe is without borders
No matter what we choose to believe
It is impossible to conceive
The God Who exists beyond the finite
But Who found it His delight
To lead us as the Wild Goose
-----
Chase
The Wild Goose calls
The decision is yours to make
Do you follow Him into the wilderness?
Do you let Him be your guiding Voice?
Are His straight paths your choice?
Or will you refuse to take
His paths? I do confess
That “straight” here seems relative
There is a structure to how he live
When we live in the Spirit
Obedience is required to live a life inspired
It is absurd to ignore the Word
When it says “if you love me you will obey me”
Set in stone by God Himself
So you cannot live for yourself without consequence
Following makes more sense
That part is clear
Black
White
Wrong
Right
But the path continues from here
Into the grey unknown
And the Goose has flown
On ahead
Will you follow or will you instead
Try to find a path of logic?
Is the good life too intense?
You have to find something that makes more sense?
Life is simple
Life is complex
Life is knowing
Life is unknown
Life is order
Life is adventure
It is simple to follow the flow of what we know
But when we do not know
Ready or not we must follow
The Goose is ready to show us
The lofty wisdom that though seen as foolish proves the seeming wisdom of men to be foolish
So when the clear path fades
And the wilderness of life begins to overwhelm
Remember the Wild Goose
And let the Spirit take the helm
It may be crazy
It may be insane
There will be trials
There will be pain
But God works for our gain
If our aim is His fame
It may seem pointless to chase
Something impossible to embrace
Because it is so wild and free
Human nature does despise
The hunt that’s empty and without prize
But this chase is the reward
Following moves us forward
Helps us grow
Teaches us what we need to know
Indeed this insane adventure
Uncertain as it seems is sure
To take us where we need to go
And if we stand in the wood
Looking for a path when we should
Be looking upward to the Lord
We will reap more worry than we can afford
Life of devotion is a life of motion
The stagnant, the stubborn
Are barren and fruitless
The conflicted, the torn
Render themselves useless
The decisive, the chasers
To them belongs victory
Even though they surrender
To what they cannot see
They follow the Spirit
Whenever they hear it
Their questions are answered
When God so chooses
The lives they abandon
Are the lives that God uses
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