"wake up"

a poem, and a photo.

Sunday morning, March 24th, I woke early to have some time alone with the Lord. I crept out to the plastic picnic tables in the courtyard of Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Key West, Florida, where I was serving on a missions trip. It was unglamorous. It wasn’t anything overly emotional or scenic. But my heart was unfolding, like a flower in the spring, and while nothing around me had necessarily changed, something inside me changed and it beautified everything I saw. I think this poem sums up my feelings about the missions trip pretty well… I feel like I’ve been asleep a long time, and I’m finally waking up. (Post about missions trip coming this week.)

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I rise in the cool of the morning
when much of the world still sleeps.

I rise because although
my eyelids are heavy
my heart is light
and my soul is singing.

You’re speaking to my heart, O sweet Jesus,
and my weary heart is remembering the sound
of your voice —

it’s been so long.

I’ve been asleep so long
but you’re creeping
into my room
now, smile on 
your face, hand
on the curtain,
beginning even now
to draw it back
from the window
to let your
presence shine in —

wake up, you say.

Come on, baby girl,
it’s time to wake up.

“wake up”
Abby Bales
Mar.24.2024.

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Shoutout to my friend Will Martin for the stunning photograph, taken at Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Key West.

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