Let God persuade you

What it’s going to mean,

How thoroughly

You will be off the scene;

And hand it over now:

The shade you chose

For the walls, your coffee maker,

Climbing rose.

No archive and no

Velvet ropes for you.

Lay down your life

And see what it will do

Without you. That’s

What our Redeemer did

After His agony –

Rose up and hid,

Not asking if

We loved him there above us –

But free of us as well,

Because He loved us.

— This poem originally appeared in the March 24, 2014, issue of National Review.