Could all my pain… prove gain for one and all?

When eating light and heaving weights, my
Waistline barely balks! Does the
Lord ignore my efforts? All my
Push-ups, squats and walks?
Did my sweat…
All mean squat? Could it
Spot some fellow struggler? God,

May all the love with which I lift raise weight from someone’s shoulders

Where love is lifted… gifted it will be!

Does God look over me heart-tugged, or
Shrug and overlook me? After
Painting peacefully for months, my
Masterpiece went up in flames!
Was it not…
All for Naught? Would You
Frame it in your House? Lord,

Use every drop of love with which I brushed to brighten greying souls

Where love is traced… erased it cannot be!

All those persons sporting labcoats made my
Sickness sadly worsen! I am
Wond’ring if, in pain and fear, God
Hears my cries; my cursin’?
Could my reeling…
Spread some healing? Lord,

With love I trade this suff’ring for the grace You’ll bring to others

If laced with love… these aches will not be wasted!

I farmed my darndest; scrimped and scrounged
But debts compounded with alarm
I’m tempted to give up and cry that
Life’s a fruitless chore!
Is this living…
Or slow dying?

I recall that, “labor in the Lord is not in vain”; so on, I’ll go (1)

Where love is sown… it’s grown a hundredfold!

Lord, thresh new grains of hope from out my wheat of offered pain

To plant in hearts that You claim as Your own

***

(1) “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” -1 Corinthians 15:58

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do” -Hebrews 6:10

“I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship” -Romans 12:1