Common Experience

   How often do we scramble and scheme and set our hearts on a certain path in life, only to meet with an insurmountable obstacle. The wall to our progress is devastating at first, but when we quietly examine the situation, we realize that another path, a turn in the road that we had never thought of and wouldn't have chosen, is actually superior in every way.  This poem reflects the common human experience of those who walk by faith.

       The Wall

I’ve tried so hard to manage things,

And make them work by pulling strings.

I’ve laid my plans and thought up schemes

To seal my fortune, catch my dreams,

But efforts clever and well-planned

Could not secure them to my hand.

I reached a wall of solid rock,

Which proved a most effectual block.

It stopped the course I’d tried to run,

And screamed in silence, “Now be done!”

Too high to climb, too tight to crawl,

I had no choice but face the wall.

With nowhere now to run or hide,

Nor any outlet for my pride,

I had to face reality,

And let my life and fortune be.

The wall with adamantine force

Had stopped my crazy, wilful course.

I stood, my spirit almost dead,

Until a nudging turned my head,

And opened to my curious eyes

A gentle, but a sweet surprise —

Without my planning, aid, or thought

I found a path I’d never sought.

No running now; no cunning ways;

Just thankfulness and quiet praise.

My energy, my heart, my will

Are channelled in their efforts still,

But something’s different; something’s new

In everything I feel and do.

Nita Brainard

April 12, 2012