“Leave all,”

He asked me

and I said,

“I can’t”

and so sorrow-filled

I walked away

I had asked Him how I might be saved

how to have life eternal

He had asked that I sell all

that I take up a cross

that I follow Him

I knew that was the way

I knew it was all true

but my possessions were great

Oh, the look of Love upon His Face!

but I turned away

grieved for the cost

and then the days came and went

the happy and the sad

both joy and loss

were mine to behold

but the loss

the loss

and again I came

and again to my knees I fell

but it was different this time

“Everything has failed me!”

I said

“Why?”

I cried

and He was silent

I listed the things I had lost

I told Him of the dreams that now lie buried in the dust

I told Him how my hope had been shattered

how my heart had been broken

how all had failed

and I wept

for His silence

but then He reached out

and said,

“I Love you”

and instead of ‘I know’

I thought ‘Why?’

for I knew then

that it was not what failed me that mattered so much

it was that I had failed Him

“Follow Me,”

He whispered

“But I have nothing and no one to leave,”

I cried

“I have nothing to give You now!”

“It is you I want,”

said He

and I took His nail-pierced Hand

that is how He proposed

and that was when I said “yes”

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