Close your eyes and see

Close your eyes for a moment

And let pictures flood your mind,

Where God has lavished His goodness

And scenes of love and plenty entwine.

Pictures of family, friends and colleagues,

Homes, holidays, food and health

A beautiful land to live in

Resplendent in all it’s wealth.

Now put to one side those pictures

Of love and warm embrace

And picture this scene before you

Can you see His goodness in this place?

In a home of mud and squalor

A curtain for a door,

No furniture to sit on

Just a bare dirt floor.

Cold water in a bucket

They’ve walked 3 miles for.

No money in their pockets

Hungry, trapped and poor.

Death is not far from them

There’s disease at every turn

Children they don’t know how to feed

Does it make your heart yearn,

As you look into their lifestyle

And see them face to face

Does it make you wonder

If God’s goodness is in that place?

Has He withheld His favour

And blessings from that land

Are there no showers of plenty

Or do we understand the truth

Of what goodness really means

And are we looking clearly,

Is it all it really seems.

For goodness is not just plenty

That’s just a little part

Of God’s goodness to His people

For it is poured out from His heart.

Goodness is an act worthy of praise,

A virtue, pure and right

Profitable only for our good

Now that’s a different sight

And gives a deeper meaning

Of what goodness really is

But what a richness in one simple word

To every child of His.

A child from every nation

From wealth or needy place

That they can receive God’s goodness

For He is in every place.

He can be praised for all His acts

Are perfect pure and right

He gives us gifts to profit us

To prepare us for His sight.

So whether rich or very poor

That’s not how we can measure

For the goodness that God gives to us

Are blessings all can treasure.

By Cherry