A Good Friday Poem

As a girl, Good Friday meant nothing to me

Other than the day when I was set free -

Not from my sin or from Satan's grip,

But from homework and having to silently sit

Behind a desk being constantly bored. 

I never considered the death of our Lord. 

I grew up and still even then,

The weight of the day never sunk in. 

I still never truly, deeply believed

That there upon that gross wooden tree

Was strung a man who's cries didn't reach

The throne room of Heaven, a lesson to teach. 

I've basked in the glory of each Easter morn

But I've never considered the pain that was born

Three days before, when that last final shout

Trickled away and Christ's life burnt out. 

But this year I think everything's changed.

This year I am no longer estranged. 

Not from the pain, not from the hurt.

Something inside of me has come to convert. 

I am no longer a sinner, I have been set free

By that damned filthy cross on Calvary. 

And though we should mourn the loss of the Son

We know that today, it is not actually done. 

This year I am changed, it is completely different

I'm being washed whiter and whiter with each passing minute.

But this year is not about me, or what I  claim

It is all about Jesus who died so my name

Could be written in permanence this side of Heaven.

His glory is calling, it's constancy beckons.

This year Good Friday, it's all about peace

It's all about love, it's all about grief. 

This year I have finally let loose my chains,

And I can fully watch it again - 

The darkness of Gethsemane

Where Jesus bled out and was murdered for me.

On Good Friday we begin to open our hearts

And our minds to the celebration that starts

Come Sunday morning with the sunrise

As we look to the King with hope in our eyes

That it was not finished, death did not win

That we all may stand in glory with Him.

Because, Dear Christians, you see what is different...

I've said it before, but I've never meant it.

I didn't have hope, I didn't have trust

I lived my own life clouded by lust

For being my own savior, and saving myself.

Knowing full well I was putting God on the shelf. 

But never again, only One God reigns here. 

Never again shall I live in fear.

Nor shall I live controlled by my past

Or working for things that can never last. 

Now it is clear that I truly find peace

When I stop running and rest at his feet.

Those very same feet nailed to the cross

For that one final moment when all was thought lost. 

And yet though we all see it is Friday

We know in a short time...

There will come Sunday.

A new creation in Christ,
Emily E.