Prayer of the Exile

Do you ever feel reminded of a place you've never been?
Caught up dreaming of arriving there?
That this journey of life might actually be leading somewhere?
Almost as though all of our striving might take us there?

As we travel through these broken lands
Seeing the heartache and pain that saturates these souls
We cannot but wonder at talk of a place
Where all the self infliction will stop

Sometimes against our will we stay
We embrace these wretched lands as our own
And only add to the pain all around
Sinking in with the misery all around

But then we see a shadow of the unseen homeland
Hear just an echo of the drawn out celebration
Which wets our appetite for things barely known
Heightening our imaginations for what we cannot reach

We are privileged beyond measure
For the Master of that land has called us there
The land where the broken is restored
Where all pains are made right

But we must walk and war our way there
And flee the sorrow that smells so sweet
That path is narrow and steep
But the Master Himself will lead us there.

~CHAD