You gave me life

You gave me life
And it most abundant
This breath both free
And temporary

Though this my birth
Upon the broken earth
Be a strand of time

For thine divined choosing
May my life thy fullness oozing
For not my days were given
Without thy purpose within

So upon the moment
Of their celebration
May my one declaration be
May thy glory and thy will
Be done in me

My fears are fleeting
These trials competing
For thy time

Let not mine eyes
Nor mine ears
Be fixed
On that which separates
Grace upon grace

Love beyond trace
Cannot know its beginning
Or its ending
For it alone transcending
And ever it shall be

So as this day
Draws remembrance
Of trials and tears
Of joy

May thy love employ me
May thy will command me
That I might in humility prove
A life most pleasing

Not for my own glory
But thine alone
That others may too
Be known
In thine divined story

Which has always been
So that by this life
A few may be drawn
To love and serve
As thou hast showne
May it be lived in this breath
And bone

For all the beats in brokenness remain
Till pain will find its glory gain
To see and walk again
With thee
For all eternity

-Joshua Lee Foist