The Lord gives and the lord takes. This well known phrase addresses the variables of life and the surprising speed of those variables. However, deeper in this phrase is a promise. Yes, the creator gives and takes. But this is of his creation, not himself. There is no gift receipt with the mercies of God. Once received, they are permanent and irrevocable. They are purchased and sealed with the blood of Christ. For those mercies to diminish, Christ work would have to diminish. He is our forever priest. He gave of himself that we might be received. He descended that we might ascend. Not in part, but in whole. The poem below explores the challenge of our affections.

The grass withers, the ladder fades:

• Veiled is the star in the skyline not known
  Obscured by a paper canvas of late night hours and missed rehearsals.

• Onward upward, Onward striving, Climbing achievement: 
  Ladder rungs of sweat slipping through my grip.

• Then time washes down and a new council designs faster better ladders. 
  And yet, never not one rung, new or old, ever reached the stars. 

• Those sentinels: veiled by the canvas now withered and a heap of ladders. 

  - B. Oaks