Tag Archives: Redemption

Dragon

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The first Man to come down into the Cave found there treasures and riches all unimaginably amazing! Then, the Man met the Dragon of this Cave. This sly Dragon offered him a Key. The Dragon said that if he took the Key from the Dragon’s teeth then he would be the Ruler of this cave and own all the treasures within it. And so, the man beguiled by wonders and dreaming of riches took the Key from the Dragon’s fang. And then the Dragon laughed and hissed for he through cheating won a secret vow: the man was now indebted to him, and was bound to repay the dragon with his life, and the cruel Dragon would own, terrorize, and feast upon this man and every being born of his body forever.

And so more filled the cave–the children of this Man, and at the end of every cave dweller’s life, like cattle fattened for slaughter, they were fed to the Dragon, to die a hideous, horrendous, and unwholesome, gruesome death, where they would be swallowed up, tortured, and tormented forever in repayment of the bargain. And so those who lived in the cave lived under the fearful tyranny of this Dragon.

And then one day, there was born into this Cave, a Child, born not of the seed of the first Man, but rather born of the One who made the cave itself, the One to whom even the Dragon owed its allegiance. When this Child came of age, the Dragon offered him the same Key he offered to the first Man, but this One refused. This Wholly Other, unfettered to the Dragon, joined the cave dwellers by living in this cave that was ruled by the Dragon, and showed the cave dwellers how to live as if they were not enslaved to the Dragon.

Well, those more powerful cave dwellers and those who were more entrenched and entangled in the Dragon’s ruling ways sought to destroy this Outsider, this Wholly Other One, who threatened their ability to control the treasures of this cave in their own little minds and their own littler worlds: even though he was offering them freedom from the Dragon if they would follow him. Others did follow him, but once they recognized what it meant to follow him, even they cowered and shrunk back because their hearts were too full of fear of the Dragon, whose rule alone they had known their whole lives.

There was a final showdown, when in order to get rid of this Wholly Other One, who had come among them, those who ruled the cave surrendered him and delivered him up as a sacrifice to the Dragon to feast upon him. And the Dragon came to swallow him whole so that he could be tormented just like the others. Only this time, he wasn’t just swallowing whole any old slave, but this particular one was the Son and seed of the One who owned this cave–the One destined to inherit this Cave. It was a tantalizing temptation to tasty to resist, and the dragon snapped his jaws upon this Wholly Other born in this Cave.

Those who followed the Wholly Other One, were incredibly astounded and downcast. They had lost their only hope of ever defeating this Dragon.

However, like the Dragon, this particular Wholly Other also had a secret: the One who made the dragon, was Himself now inside the Dragon to unmake him. And so, he dug deep inside the Dragon, all the way through his entrails making a pathway out of the dragon’s belly and out the other side. Only this time, because he had already been through the Dragon’s jaws, the Dragon could no longer bite into him and could no longer harm him, because he had fully surrendered to the owner of the Cave, and by so doing, he made a pathway through the dragon, so that any who followed him now, if they would go through the dragon, they would not be trapped and tortured forever suffering torment, but they would instead be free indeed to live in the Cave beyond the time of the Dragon, even in the time when all dragons would all be cast into a pit, never to trouble the seed of any ever again.

And so now, for every cave dweller there remains the choice. Play into the Dragon’s claws, pursuing the treasures of the cave and seeking to preserve your own life as best you can, the jaws will clamp down, and you will go the way of all Cave Dwellers to death and torment. Or if you will follow him who made a pathway through the Dragon, and surrender yourself not to the Dragon, but to the one who has overpowered the Dragon, then you will find his way through the Dragon to the other side where it can never harm you again.

The Hedgeman

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Madam Grandmother had a house of grey:
Grey roof, grey shutters, grey siding.
All one story; All one level
Surrounded by box hedge plants waist high.

A hedgeman had come and trimmed them recently
But he only chopped the shape just right.
He did not seek to undertake
The dive seeking weeds of thorn and vine:

Young spritely clinging little buggers
Troublesome meddlers in a boxy world
In shadowy subtlety they showed their heads
A long time they had grown in secret.

The hedgeman returned at the grandmother’s request
The bushes needed trimming, but the vines were his quest.
Over two days he set about the purge
Of everything that grew up from secretly seeded earth.

He found himself saying, as the vines scraped his arm:
“My goodness this bush is a pain.”
But then he thought to himself:
I wonder if God looks that way on me?

Extricating and tending the bush planted well.
From the weeds of the seeds of the unworthy sown.
Did the Maker of creation who saw it was good
Did He say, “This is a pain.” When the devil’s seed was sown?

Grace shines like the hot afternoon sun on his back.
Reminding him of the Maker’s glowing face.
Which does not cool when faced by those who turn
Their back on him shady tents to pitch.

O grief, such grief: that crown of thorns
That encircled the Savior’s human brow
To crown the flower with Satan’s weeds
To raise up a sacrifice of earth because of Heaven’s love.

Of course! Twas not for grief He bore
But for the Joy that was set before!
His cross he endured and the seed he planted
In the tomb of the rock to sprout forth with new creation!

Determined by his Father’s love,
Pronounced for the world from the beginning
He did not merely say, “It is good.”
He simply “Saw that it was good.”

Now the hedgeman was ennobled to press
Through the thorns that tore his exposed flesh
For in these thorns a fresh thought was true:
God fell in love with the world to make it new.

Emancipation: the feeling surged as one by one the vines relinquished their hook
They could not withstand the power of man determined to make the bushes good.
Why? Because these bushes were planted first, and then the weeds took root.
The bushes are good, it’s the weeds that have corrupted their look

So even though the weeds are deep entwined
With the plants of the Grandmother’s good intention
Still, deeper is the ability to dig
With a pair of pruning sheers to clip the hidden stems.

Strong is the stock the Sower sowed
When He made the world out of His goodness
The enemy may have added his own ingloriousness
But the Angels can tell what is good by its fruit.

Oscillating between standing and kneeling
The hedgeman cleared away the weeds by probing deeply.
Humility and confidence to seek understanding and apply it:
Getting to the root, and pulling up the shoot.

Familiar with these living plants
Their tender leaves not sown by chance
Were worth releasing from these self-ish pokes
For which the fire the Angel stokes.

Grappling with the plant near the top does no good.
It took a long time to reach the now spoiled-sightly top.
With a firm hand the hedgeman pulls on the vine
So he can pluck the thorns like a bow string and cut the base.

Others yank the plant up by the stem
Hoping that the whole thing will come right out.
Those who are clever know such a risk is not sound
Even if it clears the top, soon the issue will reemerge.

During his struggle, He sees the Creator dealing with him.
Not managing his issues so as to keep God busy
But always asking the questions that get at the heart
Of why man hides and turns his back on Him.

Resting in the tension of the Master’s pull
And wincing at the precise cuts of the wise Healer
Leveling haughty lusts from creeping back out again.
He reminds me of His pleasing and excellent plan

Utilizing the hedgeman to keep the hedges beautiful
The Creator has appointed a manager for His Creation
A Creation He made so beautiful, that it was even good in His own eyes.
The only One who is Good, saw that it was good.

Lo, He did not only say “It was good” when he made the light.
Nor even when he made land, trees, fruit and seed
Nor even when he made stars, and birds and fish and animals
But when He appointed man to rule He saw that it was VERY good.

Ended the task, back stood the hedgeman and smiled
The grey house framed by box-hedged life
The weeds were cast away to rot, to be chewed, and to die
And the Hedgeman sees that the Earth is worth redeeming.