In Compare - part two - finished what was started in 2022 - learning & growing in 2024

Forgive me Father, for I knew not
Come into my life of blessing
and show my eyes Your Truth in this lesson
Give to me the open hand that's rare
and an open heart, in compare

To the closed fist - pressed tight to my side
shaken at the sky - even slammed to the ground
as I hunker down - waiting in my pride

To all the former things I thought served purpose in my life
To the aching, crushed heart of self-pity
To the woundedness of shame that won't let go

And though my chains have fallen
the enemies threads can draw me tighter than a bow
linked to all these things, and even of those I'm unaware
and at times feel just as heavy - in compare

Let me see them for what they are as he tries to lay me low
Spun from the chaff of my own scars - with the guilt of wounds that I've bestowed
of offenses that arise - bitter roots I'd thought erased, and yet, they grow

That together weave merely a fine lace I alone still do transform
from the weak and feeble devices of an enemy forlorn
Into a wily hunter's net I still need you to relent
When I should easily have shredded it in resistance
and watched, as he fled

Forgive me Father, my selfish, wounded snare
while I struggle to discern the true battlefield - in compare
For it is with the dethroned prince of the powers of the air

So forgive me blaming my brother
and throwing my expectations on him
Now that you have shown me no other
Not even the enemy within I still sometimes wear
For these can do me no harm - in compare

But only what I allow to have power; just what my foolish fist will grasp
Please write these lessons on my heart, so that they truly last

Now I give thanks! My spirit is willing, and only by you prepared
Through faith only you can provide - building the trust that I've treasured inside
Now I turn and hold tight to only you - as you give me rest uncompared
while you say take hold of the flame - that now in my heart burns bright
causing thread and chaff to ignite, thus yielding no battle to fight - in compare