#5 - Hundredfold

This is probably my favorite poem about dying to your dreams for the sake of Christ. I wrote this last year after reading John 12, where Jesus said “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Little did I know that only two weeks later God was going to call me to the most difficult sacrifice He's ever called me to, and this poem would provide a large source of encouragement through the process...

Hundredfold

What solemn dirge is this I hear,
This mournful wail within my heart?
The flames will purge the dross I see,
The whips will flail my selfish dreams;

The seeds will die, the darkness come
And overwhelm my fragile heart;
The dreams will lie within their graves
But life still dwells in death’s regime;

Why do the tears run down my face?
Why can’t I see the dawn of hope?
The dreams held dear are fading now,
So I must free them from my heart;

The seeds are dying, darkness comes,
But through their death springs greater life;
The tears I cry will water joy,
The dark’s a path that leads to light;

What is this sprouting dream I see?
I thought they died, the tomb was sealed!
What is the shouting in my ears?
Has God provided victory?

The seeds have died, the darkness came,
But look! The tomb is empty now—
For life’s defying death itself,
The seeds have bloomed a hundredfold…