My Treasures! Poem by Steve A. Politte

I go to our Lord Jesus in prayer,
for there is much confusion
that lingers all about in this place;
the war, my purpose, and my fears.
Could it be that death is very near?

And so, in prayer I ask the Lord -
'What is Your Will for me? '
And He replies, 'Give to Me your treasures.'
And I think, 'where are my treasures,
Where might they be? '

And then, in answer to my confusion,
I hear Him say, 'Your treasures are in your heart?
And He continues to speak to me,
'Search deep within your heart;
In your past and your present,
and there you will find your treasures.'

Then, with tears in my eyes
I search deep within my heart.
My treasures... Now I know...
Here they are: people... places...
things... emotions, joys, and fears...
In my future's hopes and dreams...!

I then pick each treasure up,
and say something to it,
and lay it before
the presence of the Lord.

How will I release
these treasures to Him? '
In those times that my heart
is in past treasures,
I am traumatized and lifeless,
for life is only in the present.

To each of those treasures in the past,
which I knew would never last,
I say goodbye. So long.
I speak to each of them like in a song.

Grateful though I am
to have had them in my life,
I must move on...
or else my heart
will never know how
to live the present.

This heart of mine is in the future too.
Those fears of what will be tomorrow -
leave little energy to live fully what is today.

I separate these and say to each,
'Let my Lord take you away, '
looking at what effect this will have on me;
knowing in my heart... that my good
can only be willed by Him.

And in my heart is...
all my ideals, my dreams, and hopes -
which causes me to live in utter fiction.
To each of these I say,
'Let the will of the God be done,
Let Him rid of you as He sees the need.'

Then, having recaptured the part of my heart -
that was stolen by the future and the past,
I can now hold my present treasures,

And to each person in my life,
I say with joyful tenderness,
'You are so special to me,
but you not my life.
I do have a life to live,
a destiny to meet -
that is not a part of you,
that you may not see.'

I speak to things and places
that I am attached to,
'So wonderful you are,
but you also are not my life.
My destiny and life are apart from you.'

I say this to the material things
that want to constitute my very soul;
my talents and gifts,
my health and my emotions...
and all those thoughts of old.

And through all those times -
and even to this day,
I look at my pain -
and to that pain I must say:
'You too, I must relent.'
The pain is so hard to let go of,
but I surely must, before
I can face my Lord again.

'Though you exist within me -
always present like a curse,
and yet, the cross I must carry -
even you, I must disperse.'

And then, I even say it to my life,
which must relent some day to death,
'You are so desirable and sweet,
but you are not what I am about -
for that are apart from you.
You are not me.'

And finally I am alone before my Lord Jesus,
arrayed with all the things
that are so precious to me.
with my hands clammy and empty,
drained of all my treasures for Him to see.

To my Lord Jesus, I give my empty heart.
I say, 'You, Lord, are my life.
YOU are my TREASURE, my destiny.'
And then the Lord welcomes me!



Steve A. Politte
written 11/10/1969 (Vietnam)
@ 2008 (revised)