It's a good day to die.
Yes, somewhere, every day, I'm finding an altar awaits.
An altar of sacrifice and surrender.
And, at times, the trip to the top seems unbearable.

Bring them here. 
Bring the dreams still soft with dew.
Bring the wishes quietly guarded. 
Bring the desires long stowed away.

Bring it here.
The prize you imagine in secret daydreams.
The goal you long to realize.
The thing you cannot forget.

Bring to this place.
Your unyielding desire for what seems good.
Your painful longing for an answer.
Your naïve belief that you know best.

Bring to the altar.
A heart laid bare.
A soul in surrender.
A will relinquished.

Bring this all to Him,
And put on the yoke of waiting.
Accept the blade of sacrifice.
Acknowledge the mastery of His love.

At the altar,
death blows give way to life in the thicket.
Smolders become the fragrance of faith,
the bitter cup holds the liquid of redemption.

There is,
no joy without suffering,
no triumph without battle,
no glory without surrender.

Bring. Submit. Rise. 
Your altar will be to you a place of brilliant beauty,
polished with tears,
illuminated by heaven's comfort.
What dies here was not what He willed.
What goes forth from here will not die.
The altar of surrender reveals the hidden life we cannot know until we approach the craggy summit. 
And in its stony embrace, we find Him. 
He is enough.