Abba, can we just hang?
Preface: I am fighting a bloody battle with the god of productivity. Satan flooding my silence with the taunt, "you don't do enough" or "you're so unproductive" or "you are without impact in this life". Silence is my weapon. Rest is my war. Below is a poem that came out of prayer. May we fight to rest today and every day according to the measure God asks of us each. Love, Joel
Abba, can we just hang?
by Joel Howard, November 2018
Abba, lets just hang
No climbing today
No asking today
No worrying today or day after day
No wandering today
No shifting today
No gloating today or day after day
I rise today
I sit today
I rest today and day after day
Knowing that God is here
Just knowing that You are here
No fighting today
No quarreling today
No striving today or day after day
No stressing today
No lying today
No hating today or day after day
Can we just hang?
Empty me now
Of all my ideals
Of all of my plans
Let your will reside
In this heart of mine
Lets just hang today, all day
When is the last time
I loved you
I liked you
I smiled at you, Jesus?
Is this the first time
I didn't require
That you explain life today?
Who put you on the hot seat
When the seat you sit on is
Ruling in me
And ruling the world
And ruling mankind
And ruling the heavens
And the depths of hell?
Can I just sit?
Can I just chill?
Can we just be
You, Abba, and me?
Why is it unproductive
To be with the One who lives;
To sit in the presence of a holy God?
Why is it worthless
To give you this moment
To ask nothing, need nothing
But just wanting to gaze?
I take you off the witness chair
You've waited long enough
In your eyes will I stare
I take you off the questioning seat
I stow my offenses
I bend down on knees
Your throne is an everlasting throne
Your kingdom is everlasting too
You don't have to answer to me
I now answer to you
So come crush my will
Come kill my fight
Til all I want is Jesus
And all my dark is light
Take my belongings
My family, my pride
Take my possessions
They are yours tonight
Take my hopes and dreams
My drive for "more"
Take my sins and failures
Come, open the door
To a life filled with sorrow
Or a life filled with joy
May I be ambidextrous
In my ability to wait
The highs and the lows
The happy or sad
The ins and the outs
May I hold them the same
Make me fluent in the
vocabulary of love
Make me a sinner
Who boasts in his LORD
Let you and I sit
This day yet undone
And let my pillow tonight
Be a welcoming one
The night season is not
A result of the curse
The dark's an invitation
To let Abba be first
To let God keep on working
To let me be his son
To let my family and belongings
Rest firm in his love
To let Christ be provision
To let Christ be enough
So let this day's banner
Have less to do with me
And more to do with us
More to do with "them"
Who need to receive his love
Let us partner together
Let us chill today
Basking in the presence
Of you, my precious King.
Abba, can we just hang?
