Bold

My love, you are a rose that I saw this summer,
Basking in the sun, and preparing to burst out.
By tender beauty wrapped 'round, softer than velvet,
Your color brash and bold, your principles to shout.
No space-filler you, no one out of the dozen,
No timid bloom blending to the background of green.
You pronounce yourself present at such time you choose
Proclaiming truth with confidence, to be seen
By those with eyes to see, no apology.
Too often we've been soothed by weak timidity
And had our boldness blunted, our color bleached out.
But God calls not the rose to shrink, a timid violet
Or ponder long on lists of troubles that beset,
But show his glorious color in all things round about.

The Fall

Don't let anyone lie! Living water
Can toss you and bash you around.
The promise of God isn't swimming pools
But seeking the thing to be found.
It's not that his kingdom is hidden;
It's clear like pure water on rock.
Moving, demanding, and plunging ahead
To live with this water you'll have to be dead
To yourself, your pretensions and all.
The water will chute you over the fall.
And there, at that spot when you're out of control
His living water is quick'ning your soul.