You are worth every struggle

You are worth every disappointment

You are worth every pain

Every sorrow.

You are better than every pleasure

You are richer than every abundance

You are greater than every gift

Every blessing

You are more than the gifts you give

You are more than the blessings you provide

You are more than the comforts you supply

More than all

Abba, the trouble is

We come to cherish your gifts

More than we cherish you.

Truth is, we take your good gifts

Turning THEM into the gods we worship

Pursuing THEM as the ultimate good

And find only disappointment

When they fail to fulfill our desires

For they were never intended to.

Your gifts were meant to draw us TO YOU

Not to your gifts

What idolatrous hearts we possess

To corrupt such good and precious gifts

Hanging all our hope and joy on them

Instead of upon the one granting the gifts

How easily we corrupt that which is good

How easily we distort that which is right

Perverting it so that it becomes profane

There is NO OTHER GOD BESIDES YOU

No gift can compare

No blessing can compete

No other that can take your place

Abba, guard our hearts from such villainy

Keep our eyes and hearts fixed

Upon You

Upon You ONLY

May your gifts

May your blessings

NEVER overshadow your glory

NEVER replace your worth

BE the true delight of our heart

Kill every competing desire

Arrest every challenger

So that none may ferret us away

Be the true longing of souls

Envelope all other passions

So satisfy our being

So nothing else may even entice

May we never adulter ourselves to lesser things

May we never stake our hope

On the gift

Instead of the giver