When I was young and but a child,
my mum and dad would say,
That when you sent me from above, they had a price to pay,
For in my soul you’d laid three seeds, for them to tend and care,
And through their efforts they would grow, and many fruits they’d bear.

These fruits had names familiar, of Faith and Hope and Love,
And through the years would help
me, with guidance from above,
The seeds produced a special fruit, which I could not devour,
The more they’re used and passed around, the greater is their power.

And then I was a young man, and I took myself a bride,
These gifts she had aplenty, she
filled my heart with pride,
Within twelve months You’d blessed us, with a son to share and nurture,
And in his soul we found those
seeds, for us to tend and treasure.

As time went by you favoured us,
with five more souls to rear,
And as they grew in stature, they
did not know of fear,
Love and care were what they knew, of one for another,
And Hope for the future, is what they shared together.

Then Lord you sent us tragedy, in
it’s most deadly form,
You took away my eldest son, and
left us all to mourn,
You took away our happiness, and
left us with our grief,
You took away our Hope, and
left us disbelief.

I knew the cold winds of despair,
and icy bitterness,
Anger came into my heart, at
what You’d done to us,
You sent to us a cross to bear, but
we had done no crime,
You let me love my son so much,
then took him in his prime.

The anger that was in my heart, and icy coldness too,
The hatred and despair I felt,
meant the seeds no longer grew,
Those seeds tendered lovingly, by
my mum and dad,
No longer flourished as they should, and their fruits began to flag.

I lived my life for quite a while, in
this unhappy state,
My heart would thrive on anger,
and my soul was fed on hate,
Then The One I’d soon forgotten, called on me to visit,
And in my sleep God came to me,
as the Holy Spirit.

He showed He’d not forgotten me,
that the seeds that He had sown,
Were much too deeply rooted,
to be easily overblown,
He told me that the seeds in others, that I had carefully tended,
Were also spreading to my soul,
which is what He had intended.

Now the seeds are flourishing, and
the fruits are strong again,
Love is in my heart once more, and hatred gives no pain,
I do not doubt your goodness Lord,
for you have shown you care,
And Hope is in my heart again, for
I’ve banished all despair.

I think of my son again, with a
certain peace of mind,
I have such happy memories, of
a very special kind,
If you really had to take him Lord,
I’ll try to understand,
You know how much I miss
him, so keep him close to hand.

I thank You Lord for giving us,
our son and brother John,
We cared and loved him like
you said, but we miss
him now he’s gone,
He must of been so special, if you wanted him above,
Please God keep him close to You,
and give him all our love.

And should you find I’ve seeds
to spare, Lord send a gentle wind,
And let them blow on other souls,
who have no peace of mind,
And when their seeds are
flourishing, then let them
spread around,
So everyone can love and hope, through Your guiding hand.