Radically Happy

[rhymes added afterwards]

I am walk through the desert
But am not deserted
Though the sand’s hot
My feet are not hurted

Jesus is walking
There beside me
So I feel peace
Like beneath shady tree

I see an Oasis
There up ahead
But Jesus says “No,
Trust me instead.”

“I know you are tired
And longing for rest
But you must lose the Good
To receive the Best”

So I tear my eyes
From that longed-for place
And choose instead
To look at His face

And see that His gaze
Is fixed farther on
Away to the East
Where Earth welcomes dawn

I look where He looks
And to my surprise
Amidst distant hills
A City there lies!

Oases are precious
Yet natural still
But who in a desert
Builds City on Hill?

Is this the City
Which hath no more sea?
No sun, moon or temple
Just life-giving tree

And is this vision
Only bestowed
On those who lose all
To follow Christ’s road?

And is this hard desert
I longed to escape
Merely the border
Of heaven’s landscape?

If so, to my fate
I’m more than resigned
For His Kingdom comes on
The road He designed