Prelude to Prostration

What is the cost:

   of image projecting,

      ego styling,

         visage counterfeiting,

            position posturing,

               individualism perfecting,

                  peer pandering,

                     self satisfying?

      What price must be paid

          for domain building,

             portfolio padding,

                castle gilding,

                   opinion injecting,

                      weaponry wielding,

                         sympathy garnering,

                            discomfort shielding?

            What unseen expense

               for incessant investing

                   perpetual grasping

                      artful one-upping

                          cunning chousing, 

                              power playing

                                  defense strengthening

                                       ladder climbing.

                  What is the cost

                     of continuous improvement;

                        process refining

                           to gain the whole world.

                               What will one loose

                                  to posess his own soul?

                            What does one save

                                 laying foundations on sand,

                                     dismissing advice

                                       that's forcasting rain?

                 What have I done?    What have I become?   What have I lost?

                -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

          -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

                           "Ho!

                        Everyone who thirsts,

                     Come to the waters;

                  And you who have no money,

               Come, buy and eat.

            Yes, come, buy wine and milk

            Without money and without price.

           Why do you spend money

         for what is not bread,

       And your wages

      for what does not satisfy?

                  Listen carefully to Me,

               and eat what is good,

            And let your soul

         delight itself in abundance.

      Incline your ear,

   and come to Me.

 Hear,

and your soul shall live;

      And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--

    The sure mercies of David.

 Seek the Lord while He may be found,

Call upon Him while He is near.

    Let the wicked forsake his way,

  And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

 Let him return to the Lord,

And He will have mercy on him;

 And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

 Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

 So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there,

    But water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud  that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

    It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

"For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace;

 The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,

 And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,

    And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;

 And it shall be to the Lord for a name,

For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Isiah 55