Value Beyond Purpose

He wakes before the morning

With the numbers in a row

Little boxes on the paper

Tell him where he ought to go

Coffee cooling by the window

Pencil tucked behind his ear

He can chart the constellations

But he can’t quite chart the fear

He’s been measuring the distance

From the man he is today

To the man he thought he’d have to be

Before he could be okay

You don’t have to earn the morning

You don’t have to prove the rain

The river doesn’t ask its purpose

As it rolls across the plain

You were worthy before the work began

You are worthy of the day

There was reefer in the rearview

There were nights he can’t reclaim

There were bargains made with midnight

And a thousand kinds of shame

Now he counts the days much differently

Not as trophies on a shelf

Just a string of little lanterns

Leading slowly back to self

You don’t have to earn the morning

You don’t have to prove the rain

The river doesn’t ask its purpose

As it rolls across the plain

You were worthy before the work began

You are worthy of the day

Maybe meaning isn’t waiting

At the bottom of the page

Maybe purpose is a lantern

But it doesn’t make the flame

Maybe love is not a ledger

Maybe grace won’t keep a score

Maybe being here together

Was the thing we came here for

And at night beside the window

When the busy world grows dim

He names a few things he is grateful for

And leaves the rest with Him

So make your list and lose it, brother

Let the evening have its say

There are things too true for measuring

There are debts you need not pay

When tomorrow comes to find you

You can meet it where you lay

You were worthy before the work began

You are worthy of the day