“Provide-ance” (Matt.6:25-34)

That’s fifty years this weekend,
Since “Robertson” we led;
Then off to dance that weekend
Where social life was fed.

How vivid was that summer
With leadership sublime;
That winter I sought guidance
For adult life of mine.

Bob headed off for Sandy;
I went to prairie Kirk,
Then back to finish training
In org that went to berserk.

At least this gift they gave me –
Great friendships, models, guides;
Lord, as we do our time out,
In all of us abide.

How precious are those memories;
How vivid are those days;
Foundations they were building
For living out Your ways –

Like chapel-time that Sunday –
“What’s ‘Providence’?” I asked;
Ed stumbled to explain it –
It now defines our task.

For crisis-time approaches
As shifts on global scene
Bring challenges to forefront
Embody what that means.

For God provides for people,
It’s hard to figure “how”;
To which the Kingdom-layer
Depicts provision now.

Not “Providence” as handout,
But place where we can walk;
A plastic-layer supporting,
Like “Grace” of which folks talk.

But not so much like “Footprints”
Where we are bundled up
And carried – it’s a layer
Where each takes up the cup –

You bid us take up, Jesus,
In that way follow You
In daily Kingdom-living
In all we say and do.

So, Providence? It’s freedom
To now engage with life,
Which works just fine, God built it
With leaven, salt, and light –

To pass on to our neighbors,
Feed them, as we’ve been fed;
And into Kingdom-living
Invite, as we are led.

Lord, thanks for these five decades
Of life on planet Earth;
And twenty years preceding
Since day which marked our birth.

Be with us for duration
Of life, that we might be
Mature with all our neighbors,
Hereafter – truly free.

Thanks Lord for this.

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