JESUS and the WHIPPOORWILL

JESUS and the WHIPPOORWILL

A country child, with a country heart,
I played outside from dawn to dusk
catching fireflies in jars

Life was good, so simple then,
You could feel sweet nature's song,
Long before the day began

When the moon would shine its light,
And my eyes began to close,
A lowly bird would take its flight

There'd come a cry,
sad and sweet upon the wind.
It pierced my soul, and stirred within,
thoughts of who I was and where I'd been

It was the cry, of the Whippoorwill.
It would come and go just like the wind,
And the Moon upon my windowsill.

It made me think, of life and death.
Was I more than just the sum,
of my first steps and my last breath?

And of the One who made the stars,
that beckoned from above,
While I questioned who we are

And as I questioned, I'd fall asleep,
as the summer air drifted in
on Moonflower perfume so sweet

Thinking back on all those nights,
I knew I'd heard the call of God
He'd placed upon my heart and life

Calling to me through nature's ways
Came the One who made the Stars
and knew the purpose of my days

Who sent another to bring me home,
through the path of joys and tears
with a love unlike I'd ever known

Even though my heart for him,
would come and go,
Just like the seasons and the sun,
and the Summers and the snows.

Until one day, when fast asleep,
Jesus came calling out to me,
With a message, I would keep

He said...

Jesus wants to know, Do you love him so?
Not just now, But that you always will.
Does your love for him, grow and stay within?
through the storms, not just when all is still?

Will you abide with me?
When it's hard to see,
past the sorrows and all of life's uphill?
Not come and go like, the wind and the Whippoorwill.

Lord forgive me, and my forgetfulness
of your Mercy and Your Grace,
and all that you have blessed

Yes, I love you,
more than life itself.
More than the beauty you have made
And all the nature in this world

Grow me, Lord, in maturity,
As I search for thee
Grow me in deep-rooted faith
Like the roots of the Oak tree

A Love abiding and steadfast,
It never withers, never dies,
Unlike the fields of waving grass
Not like Moonlight upon my windowsill,
or the sad, sweet song of the Whippoorwill

He said...

Jesus wants to know, Do you love him so?
Not just now, But that you always will.
Does your love for him, grow and stay within?
through the storms, not just when all is still?

Will you abide with me?
When it's hard to see,
past the sorrows and all of life's uphill?
Not come and go, like the wind and the Whippoorwill

written by Kim Marie Manhart-Freeman
6/12/2019

Author's notes:
While I was deep in sleep, I heard heavenly music and angelic voices singing to me the words I shared above in red.
I awoke with a pounding heart, My fervent response was,
Yes, LORD! I will Abide with you, and not come and go like that Whippoorwill.
How deeply humbling and heart-shattering to know that the Lord of Glory desires my full heart and devotion to him.