Scales of Surrender

This is a poem I wrote this spring for a dance class devotional time. By poem, I mean I threw together some lines that mostly rhyme and mostly stick to a set rhythm.


Scales of Surrender

At the alter of God
There sits a pair of scales
For measuring the balance of surrender

A child approaches
With a handful of dreams*
And stares at them wide-eyed with wonder

They look at the scales
They glance at their dreams
Wondering which one is better

They take one side
Deposite their dreams
But to the tray they are in they hold harder

The scales are tipping
Ever so slightly
Because of the weight of the dreams

The child is desperate
Holding so tightly
They watch as their offering gleams

Then a gentle touch
A soft, scarred hand
Finds the fingers that are free

It smoothly guides them
A little to the side
Where the other tray is empty

The child looks up
At this person's eyes
Their dreams momentarily forgotten

The other pulls out
His own free hand
That is holding a life of freedom

The freedom is placed
In the empty tray
That is sitting in the child's left hand

The child now holds
The scales of surrender
Whatever his choice, it will stand

Then the scales start tipping
As the child takes a peak
At the other man's life that is offered

Time seems suspended
In those fleeting moments
As the child's other hand starts to lift higher

Freedom is so pretty
Compared to his dreams
His clench on his tray starts to loosen

Then he finally lets go
Of the tray of dreams
And grabs the contents of the tray he has chosen

The other is emptied
And its contents are kept
In a special place to wait for use

And the scales of surrender
Once again sit
Ready for more bondage to loose

*It is optional to replace "dreams" with "needs" depending on what you need to hear :)
It is also optional to replace "he" with "she" etc.