THERE IS BUT ONE THING NECESSARY Filled with empty tasks and overcome with anxiety Her heart is debauched with the wine of yesterday's agendas, tomorrow's plans, today's hopes Her face is low and cumbersome to look at. The pace of her work is multiplied into ignorance As the sun rises and vents its clandestine gleam upon her It glances off of her back; she is turned away in the darkness of her task What task, what approval, what accomplishment is written That could be likened to the contract of blood made in the ancient of days Made to accomplish what cannot be accomplished Made to create what cannot be created? What word, what deed, what success Can meet the measure of your Fathers request? Your collage of hand shaking, dedicating, certificating, accumulating Is a dying tree cluttered with the ornaments of death! Distractions and hopes behind picture frames Faithfulness and devotion to the dust and the flies Complaints and grievances on those who do not accumulate She equates her master's favor in the multiplication, subtraction, and division of time Light is warm and becoming; she sees her sister is enamored But there is little regard in her eyes for that one She is desperate for a better image, a better status Manipulation, vice, emotional condescendence; how clenched is her heart! Can she not see the better portion? The proven and finished work? Are her eyes glazed with the stains of promotion? O faithless daughter! How long will you slumber on the scales of production? Freedom cries out at the gates! Martha, Martha, O my American Daughter! Where is the salve to relinquish your hidden troubles? Your children are crying in the streets! Relieve me of the equations and absurd schedules of pomp and circumstance! Let down the apron of your distress, and come! Cast off the agendas of pride and self-sufficiency, O Daughter of maldevelopment! Come out from behind the picture frames, come sit; turn your face! Remove the veil and behold the warmth of the gleam which was cast forth for you from days of old! Seek the better way, the way of one! For there is "but one thing necessary"!	I CHOSE YOU I stood afar off empty, calloused, obsessed obsessed with the wretch of my self Uncultured, unrefined, untaught, unenlightened And One came to my presence, to appear before me Who is He, and who was I that he should be mindful of me? But he called to me out of the fire, said my name I could not stand, my heart fell as though dead “I cannot, I cannot, for what does darkness have in common with the light?” My members are weak, my mortal flesh betrays me But the echo of pure words pierced me through, “I chose you!” A living God, a God who lives for me, a God who dies for me A God who gives everything, everything to me If he has given us his Son, how much more will He not freely give us all things! Beckoned and broken, ushered to the Rock I came No turning back, no looking back Trembling with fear as the Spirit lifted me high Above my transgressions, above my iniquity And then let down To break in pieces upon the Rock of Ages “You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; the chariot and the charioteer; with you I break in pieces the man and the woman; the old and the young; with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces rulers and commanders.” Each piece carefully gathered on the alter and burned as an offering to the Most High Refined and hammered to reflect his perfect will And he says in the presence of the host of heaven as I cast my crowns with all my might “My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased!”	CALLED When I discovered something I hadn't seen before and all I could do was gaze upon it in pure wonder, I knew I was in for it big time. It was the kind of thing that is not fleeting, not flighty, not trivial, not arbitrary, not spectacular, and certainly not false. It was true. Truth became substance I could feel, touch, think, know, give, take, and even unite with. Don't ask me how, because it didn't come from me. I've told my share of lies, and walked in my share of pretentious and detestable habits. But for us who have picked up the earthly Christian course after our predecessors we must make a choice as to how we will continue in it. Some have chosen the choking cares of the world, some chose to live for themselves, some chose to compromise everything. But who will choose to stick by Jesus Christ? It was not me who chose truth, but it was Truth that chose me. Who am I to find truth or even know it? I was never the source of any truth. My course in this world began with myself only as a mere grain of sand amongst a vast shore continually washed away by the unforgiving tides of hell. What difference did it make? So what about my life? But it was all a lie. A lie that told me I could have everything. A lie that beckoned me to follow happiness. A lie that made me believe I was more than just a grain of sand in the world. A lie that said I was free; said I was strong; said I was able. But in the lie there was no life. Then it was spoken to me, "Live" and I lived. And in the Life, there was no lie. WHAT ABOUT THE BROKEN SOUL? Many places to find a name But this darkness won’t let me go Everyday is the same old game Why can’t I just let it flow? Songs of love and butterflies All I want is not there to have Many words cast to and fro But what about the broken soul? Daunting tasks in the cold Haunting masks in the fold Treasures fill the air untold When will come this light to mold? Bound or free of letters' hold Gasp and kick until its sold Instant fire so I'm told Just show me the simple tree of love and life and why I'm free Only give me a tiny seed my greatest wish, desire, and need.