CHAINS

I loved my father's story

Of the skilled locksmith

Who, enchained, looked at each link

And declared:

"I cannot escape from these  

I made them myself",

But not the interpretation,

Apt though it was,

That the links were habits,

Binding irretrievably.

Lord, teach me the skill

To forge for myself chains,

That I may inescapably be made

A prisoner of Jesus Christ,

A willing bondman.

For it was love which bonded

Christ to the servant's path, linked

Christ to the cross, held

Christ in the grave.