repeatedly
in barracks deep
I hold an easy
hearted me
and I instead
succumb to blitz
stringent steps
affection missed
my testy ears
can’t hear the words
touch is tempered
warmth deferred
and labors hard
that could be soft
abandoned for
impatient thoughts
repeatedly
I pledge to change
with vow and hope
I rearrange
my mind and so
the malleable me
can surface from
the barracks deep
repeatedly
I blunder back
lose my way
and fall off track
repeatedly
I fail my vow
but wonderously
your love allows
forgiveness,
so I seek your ease
and try again
repeatedly

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Philippians 3:13

Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords And strengthen your pegs. Isaiah 54:2

So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:10

image: watercolor by Louise van Terheijden