king within a King

There is one King

in whose imagination I was fashioned,

until He beheld His work

and called it good.

Then He sent me forth, saying:

“Go now among the worlds of matter and dream beyond your beginnings.”

Thus, I entered the worlds of matter

and found that I was not alone.

Among countless other dreamers,

each fashioned by the King’s delight,

we wove together worlds of our own meaning.

Yet the weaving was never easy.

Together we shaped the worlds

through faith and war,

reason and sacrifice,

domination and compromise,

triumph and tragedy.

What the worlds became, they became through our hands.

And still the shaping continues,

learning, however slowly,

to love one another

as the King loves us.

My part in that shaping took many forms,

for no role in the King’s dream is without purpose.

Sometimes a king or queen,

other times a tradesman,

a peasant,

a teacher,

or a priest,

a mother,

a father,

a friend,

a lover,

a stranger met along the way.

I moved as wind through mountain forests,

and fell as rain upon the earth,

stood as a tree beside a riverbank,

ran as water toward the sea,

and roamed the wild places in the form of beasts and birds.

In these many forms I did the things that mortals do.

I drank and feasted,

labored and struggled,

loved and lost,

raised children,

fought,

bled,

and died.

And often I wondered

if any of it meant anything at all.

Then, when the journey was complete,

I stood once more before my King,

who wrapped me in the same love that first fashioned me,

and beheld His work with delight.

Then once more He sent me forth among the dreamers,

but this time I carried a long-forgotten remembrance.

Somewhere amid the labor, the loving, the losing,

and the endless work of shaping myself and the world about me,

I began to see.

Every act of love altered my future.

Every forgiveness gave my life a new beginning.

Every choice left its mark on my world.

Then at last I understood:

I too am a king.

Not a servant awaiting instruction,

nor a wanderer passing through

nor only an imagined character in the mind of my King,

I am a king whose love shapes the future,

Whose creations outlive their maker,

Whose forgiveness grants new beginnings,

Whose choices become tomorrow’s world.

I am a king within a King,

A willing partner in an immortal imagination.

For what else would I do but go now among the worlds of matter

and dream beyond my beginnings?