Poetry

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IN HIS IMAGE©2002 Sharon Smalls

The choices you make at times lead only to despair
Life's challenges may fill you with sadness or fear
Your best at times may seem to miss the mark
And though it's light outside, the path may seem dark

Sometimes the voice within or a voice without
Sows into your spirit disturbing seeds of doubt
It feels at times like you're in the midst of a fire
Or that floodwaters surround you, rising higher and higher

When your soul is weary and your focus is hazy
Remember: God's creating in you something quite amazing

For the beauty of silver comes only after the fire
A diamond went through pressure to become something admired
Through pressing and spinning the potter's vessel takes its form
And only after pruning is the rosebush more than thorns

So the next time you question the value of what you do
Remember: the Loving Master is patiently at work in you
The trials they mold you, the heartbreaks are His pruning
The pressure and the fire are the tools of His fine-tuning

When your soul gets weary and your focus is hazy
Remember this truth - it's really quite amazing

You see, the diamond may adorn the neck of a queen
The roses may be found in the palace of the king
The silver may become an exquisite thing of beauty
And in the grandest home the pottery may do its duty

But none of these share the splendor
Or partake of the royalty
That belongs to the men and women
Who have made Jesus their King.

For with all their beauty
This one thing for them is not done:
TO BE MADE IN HIS IMAGE
Being conformed to the likeness of His Son.

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