Choosing the Chains

I wrote this poem shortly before my dad died. He was a good man, and I know that he knew the Lord, but he had a checkered past and he was afraid that God would not let him into heaven. His last years were difficult. He was in a coma the last 3 days of his life, and I hope he was being prepared for eternity. The morning he died, the nurse told me that he seemed to have peacefully left us in his sleep. I pray that he was at peace. It’s been 12 years now that he’s been gone.

Choosing the chains

that weigh us down

Choosing the ties that bind

Packing the baggage

we carry for life

Some of us traveling blind

The closer we get

to the end of the trip

The heavier seems the load

We carry our burden

and stumble along

The twisting and uneven road

The wise ones let go

and let Christ take the weight

From their shoulders

no longer bowed down

And continue the path,

claiming freedom at last

Replacing the chains with a crown

In memory of Albert Jackson Jr. 1911-2005