Simply because we want does not make the “want” good for us, or the world around. Our desires must be educated, nourished to love what is worth loving.
. . . 
Whether we are building bodies, building businesses or building nations, our flourishing depends upon finding coherence between what we want and what is worth wanting, between what we love and what is worth loving—between our desires and reality itself.

— Steven Garber, “The Two Economies” 

[Thanks for reading. This post continues our series Verses for Vocation: Poems on the Sacred in Everyday Life and Work. Check out our other posts on faith and work and spiritual growth for more resources on living an integrated Christian life. Subscribe to get the next post in your inbox.]

Prairie Path

Listen: The wind is in the trees.
I lift my eyes up and see them ripple,
Oaks billowing like a picnic blanket in July.
A peaceful roar and then the fluttering.
Watch the forest catch its breath.

This path is straight and long, familiar.
Gravel crunches with each footfall.
The green walls me in on either side.
I smell memories of berry-picking and bike rides,
My brother’s laughter and sunburns and joy.

They say these paths were all railroad track once;
Someone thought to keep them, give them back.
I wonder: Where do the tracks in my soul go?
Will the clanking freight rush to the horizon year after year?
Or will someone keep me, give me back like this summer sanctuary?

Explanatory Notes

• “I lift up my eyes”: An allusion to Psalm 121
• “They say these trails were all railroad track once”: A reference to the history of the Illinois Prairie Path

Series image: The Stevedores in Arles (Coal Barges) by Vincent van Gogh, 1888.
Subscribe to get our next post in your inbox.
Support Mission Central.