when the levee breaks

I never write poems... ever. Poetry bores me. But my English class is doing a reading Monday, and I thought it would be an opportunity to talk about God. My professor said most poets start with an idea for the first line and don't know where they're going from there. That's what happened here. For some reason I thought of a drop of water. And here is goes...






It was just a trickle. A drop.

A small sacrifice compared 

to what was being held back.

The man who takes false ownership 

of the water bowing the dam,

fruitlessly trying to control it 

with his concrete, human hands, 

never wants to stop pushing. He thinks 

searching and scrambling and running 

to “save” it all is his job. Selfish doubt blurs 

the fact that it’s not. 

Instead, his earthly portion 

is meant to wash away with 

the water when the Operator 

commands the dam to break. 

A flood is not the man’s to prevent, 

but to allow in good faith. Designed 

to be surrendered, his abilities and 

desires aren’t strong enough 

to stand the rush of millions 

of gallons of water alone.

Whose could be?

So, the wall holder cannot help 

but obey the Operator- 

he ultimately has no choice. 

The dam releases, 

and after being cast by the waves for a while, 

he sees that the floodgates are built of gold 

and left wide open. And over time, 

once the water has all flowed by, 

they serve as an entryway into 

another world- a world comprised 

of new, beautiful, everlasting springs

in which the man was created to swim 

in the first place.

His perfect job, in his place.

And the Operator smiles.

He never wanted to drown 

His faithful worker. 

When it rains, it pours.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. 

Malachi 3:10-12

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

Philippians 3:7-9

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Revelation 21:1-7