Jesus, what in the world?

Jesus, what in the world?
                                      ~ for Sister Gail

“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do….” John 14:13

Jesus, what in the world do you mean?

I’ve asked for so much, asked so many times.

But now as I think of it, haven’t you said

the times of fulfillment, unknown to us now,

are all in the Father’s command,

all integral parts of His heavenly plan?

Ah, yes, Love, tread lightly this beautiful earth.

You’re learning to trust in the wisdom of God,

to grasp that God’s timing, God’s bringing to birth

is part of the answer. So leave all with God.

We’re taking good care of every request

that comes from the center of your heart at rest

in the will of your Maker, Redeemer and Guide.

But that qualifies it, Lord. What of the rest?

The request in great anguish: Is that not heard too?

Will that not be answered? Is that not of You?

Requests made in anguish are heard straightaway,

just as my cries from the Garden, the Cross,

were heard and were answered so gloriously.

But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t go through

all the Father intended, all I came to do.

When I said, “It is finished,” I had yet to die.

So, commending myself to the Father on High,

I let it all go, let the answer unfold.

Now, Daughter, be bold in your asking of God.

Just know that that the timing, the ways and the means

must conform to the plan to confirm you in grace.

To “ask in my name” means to ask in my place,

in the likeness of Christ and reflecting my face.

Then my Spirit will come like morning dew

and awaken Creation to answer you.

May 18, 2019

I amuse myself with the rhythm and rhyme scheme of this poem. An exalted subject worthy of the most stately treatment, it has come to me primarily in anapestic tetrameter, often used for whimsical verse (“T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house”), and with an increasingly childish, singsong rhyme scheme—not at all what I would have expected. But maybe that’s part of the message that the answers we seek so often come in unexpected ways.

When I ask from the heart, it seems that God sees an opening into my heart that the Spirit can use to gain further access, to further transform me into the Likeness—not just the Image—of God, of Christ. When I ask “in His name,” I’m saying, though I may not realize it, that I want to ask as He would. When I ask in Jesus’ name, God sees the “center of [my] heart at rest/ in the will of [my] Maker, Redeemer and Guide.” And the answer will come in the way and moment that perfectly fulfills the desires of that center. To the extent that I allow myself to be conformed to the “heavenly plan,” I will recognize the answers as what I actually do want.  Having asked, I can “let go and let God.” Then, like Wisdom personified in the book of Proverbs, I can be “ever at play in His presence.” In this light, maybe the childlike rhythm and rhyme of the poem are suitable after all. 

Sister Gail, my spiritual director, keeps bringing up the topic of play in our sessions. In fact, she’s the one who introduced me to that passage about play (Proverbs 8:22-23, 30-31). Surprised that I wasn’t familiar with that passage, I looked it up in several translations later and saw that in the King James Version I grew up with, the term was “rejoicing,” not “at play.” Delighted at the connection, I wrote in my journal

·      rejoicing = playing

·      playing = rejoicing

So I’m dedicating this poem to Sister Gail. Thanks for reminding me that God is playful as well as solemn and that we are meant to have (or return to) childlikeness, which trusts our God to give us what we’ve asked for in Christ’s name, and then lets go, rejoicing—“at play in His presence.”