Like a Poplar

Today in my Bible reading I arrived at one of my favorite passages. Verses that have been favorites not for a week, or month of sitting above the sink on an index card, but years of flipping back, reading and rereading them.

"Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb,

who will help you, 'do not fear, O Jacob My servant; 

and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 

For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; 

I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants; 

and they will spring up among the grass 

like poplars by streams of water.' 

 "This one will say, 'I am the Lord's'; 

and that one will call on the name of Jacob; 

and another will write on his hand, 'belonging to the Lord,' 

and will name Israel's name with honor."

Isaiah 44:2-5

The Lord has formed and made me, He has chosen me, He has called me not to fear. He is my help. He offers blessing to my descendants for a thousand generations. He gives His Spirit without measure making me flourish like a poplar beside streams of living water. I am the Lord's and He is mine. I write on my hands "Belonging to the Lord," as He first inscribed my name upon His hands. 

Belonging to the Lord.