GOD IS LOVE 

            Suppose, for the sake of argument,
           A friend and I are lost at sea,
          God comes by in a rescue craft,
         To save my friend and me.

            Since I'm a Christian, saved by Grace,
        I raise both arms to God,
         He sails by and saves my friend,
        Which, to me, seems very odd.

          As I go down, God circles 'round.
         At my last breath, He throws a line,
          I grab a hold ... I'm rescued, too,
          But I'm confused about God's time.

           Did God not see my outstretched arms?
          Did He forget my Christian past?
         Why did He rescue my friend first,
        And make me wait 'til last?

          When I first became a Christian,
         I longed for God so bad,
           As I think back to my old reasons,
         These were the ones I had.

         First, I wanted His forgiveness,
        Then, since I felt so much alone,
       I wanted Him to join me,
        To be my Father in my home.

          I wanted Him to solve my problems,
        Be my caretaker and guide,
        My comforter, my teacher,
          To provide a place where I might hide.

                 So much I asked of God,    
          And He gave it all to me,
            Topped it off with my Salvation,
           Which I had begged for selfishly.

          The more blessings that God gave me,
         The more I seemed to seek,
          The more I had, the more I wanted,
          I found I had a greedy streak.

              I think I'd grown possessive, too,
              That I wanted God for me alone,
            No wonder that He chose me last,
            To be pulled up from that foam.

               True, He did come back for me,
            And that He did not let me drown,
            But I think He wanted me to know,
            I'd missed a lesson most profound.

             All the time I sought Him out,
             For my own self-centered aims,
            He, in turn, was seeking me,
            With the real reasons why He came.

            God is Love.  He's made of Love.
        The message is simplistic,
             And with His Love, all else would come,
         So simple, I had missed it.

           If I accept this Love of God's,
           And, in His way, return it,
            Then some of God will in me dwell,
            And perhaps I will have earned it.

        So, in that ocean situation,
           When I needed help from up above,
          I should have prayed, "Thy will be done.
          Thou art the God of Love."
        Virginia (Ginny) Ellis