Come close

Draw near

Stretch out your ear

And pull these words into that sincere resting place

That space beyond the frontal veneer

Where spiritual truths are all made clear

Where deep calls unto deep

His Spirit dwelling, who never sleeps

Into this sacred space I speak

Because words alone are futile and weak

We must lift up eyes to seek

The things that are above

Realities only experienced in love

See I have learned the secret of being content

Leaving the striving of discontent

The torment of trying to prevent or circumvent the realities of the present

So much of our current lives are spent in lament

Always looking for a person to house our vent

We dream of futures where daily struggle has ceased

With endless happiness unleashed

Fear and agony deceased

But I have learned the secret to being content

And it lies in the extent I relent from creating my own life

Strife is a promised reality

As common as gravity

Meant to reveal life’s vanity and humanity’s depravity

But I have learned the secret of being content

The peaceful assurance I’m called to represent

And it dwells within the space I’m speaking into

Where you begin to be renewed through all that is true

It’s hope

Assurance of things yet unseen

Causing me to lean into my new identity

Heavily pursuing this new reality

Which is Christ in me the hope of glory

He is the secret to being content

For him, to him, because of him my life is spent

For if I am brought low or abound in all good things

If my name is made great among all the world’s kings

If my family turns against me and my stomach found empty

If all my plans succeed and I live in plenty

If the mediocrity of life begins to gnaw at my dreams

Or I find myself living in all the extremes

Still my hope in him remains the same

His lovingkindness not due to change

His redemptive blood coursing through my veins

For by this blood, alive I became

So in all things, I have learned the secret to being content

He is my strength, much stronger than any cement

He knows all my weakness

He knows all my need

He will sustain this life he now leads

My treasure and pleasure is no longer attached to natural and material

For that life is brief and will soon makes its burial

But who I really am is eternal

I am more than merely mortal

Thus, my desire for words beyond verbal and external

Contentment is found in his rest given to us

Our inheritance received through the man Christ Jesus

For all abundance and lack found here on this earth

Can never be compared to his glory and his worth

In him is our life, our strength, our treasure, our trust

He is the secret

He is Jesus

Philippians 4:11-13