Dying toward Life

The maple seed it twirls around
On wings of snowy gusts
Up over roofs it spins about
Goes where the wind it thrusts.

Its journey-end I cannot see
Nor grasp where it will lie.
It knows that new life comes to be
Through willing seeds that die.

“Oh, Lord, that I would always know 
That you’re the wind beneath 
That I would gladly die and go 
Toward where you’re planting me. 

May it not be that I should live 
To make death my great goal  
But die toward life that you will give –
 Serve there and rest my soul.”

Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 
John 12:24-26 (Jesus)
~
(Poetry and pictures, Heidi Viars, 2019)

13 responses to “Dying toward Life”

  1. “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22: 42). ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What a fitting verse. Thank you for reading.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Beautiful God, friend 🙂

      Like

  2. Heidi that may be one of the most beautiful poems I’ve ever read. The message, the heart, and that last paragraph 🙏. That almost brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

    Like

    1. And I’m literally going to tell my husband this is what I want on my funeral program.

      Like

      1. Sweet Jenny, I know now beyond a doubt that the Spirit wrote this poem. I am praising God with you that He would use this messed up momma to say anything worth while.
        I will tell you that the inspiration came from a book I am reading (in German). I have not been moved like this in a long time. The book will be translated into English in April next year. I can’t wait to share it with you.
        For now I will translate the thought that moved this poem…
        “We live not only toward our death, but we die toward our life. Not only in our last dedication (our death), but in the day-to-day dedication, in the things in which we find meaning and joy, wakes always something that slumbers to life. It is the beauty of grace that does this. In dying we exchange our form of life, but we are not destroyed.”
        (Martin Schleske, Der Klang, S. 86-87)
        Thank you for your kind words, dear blog-friend 🤗

        Liked by 1 person

        1. How beautiful ❤️❤️❤️ I look forward to the translation. What a blessing the Spirit spoke to you through such a precious work.

          Like

  3. Oh Heidi, I love this poem and scripture that you’ve posted! It is sovereign confirmation to ms of what God wants me to do at this time in my life! What you’ve said here is also the cry of my heart.
    How I thank and praise God for speaking so loudly to me. He is so faithful to lead and guide us as our Good Shepherd. You can know that He is using you in a powerful way! Blessings from another
    “dead seed”!!

    Like

    1. Dear Sister, I love the Holy Spirit so much. He never wastes our experiences and helps us help each other. If this blessed you, I praise God with you. I think being a dead is the only way to live ❤️

      Like

  4. You’re are quite the poet, Heidi. I love your poems. These lines especially are the longing of my soul:
    “Oh, Lord, that I would always know
    That you’re the wind beneath
    That I would gladly die and go
    Toward where you’re planting me.”
    Amen! Thank you for your encouragement to die to our own plan and live to Him wherever He plants us. Love and blessings to you!

    Like

    1. Dearest Trudy, thank you for your encouragement. May we be willing to go wherever He sends us. Love and blessings to you as well 🙂

      Like

Let me know what you think

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: