So Pants My Soul

from “As the Deer” by Beauty Twice Told

Psalm 42:1-2

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 
            so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

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Dear Lord,

May I long for you as a parched man 
longs for a drop of water. 
May I think of nothing else but your 
rushing stream of love—your abounding river of faithfulness 
that weaves through the mountains around me
and the valleys within me. 

Change my appetite, O God, for my flesh thirsts
for the water of the world, and my thirst will only 
grow stronger with the slightest touch of its tainted substance. 

But your water quenches my thirst, restores my bones, 
and nourishes my soul. 

The world's well is abundant and large, 
but the more you drink, the more you thirst. 
But your well lies in wait, and the smallest drop 
from its refreshing reserve will revitalize the driest garden 
and cause the barren flowers to bloom like never before.

Draw me to your well, faithful Creator, 
for the forest of my soul is rotted and bare.

In Jesus's Name,
Amen

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