My Highest Ideal… Poem by Margaret Alice

Rereading ‘In God’s Underground’ by Richard Wurmbrand,
remembering my shock when I first read of his suffering in
communist prisons when I was sixteen, the depth of his pain;
impressed by his meditative practices that saw him through

How he danced and preached in his cell contacted his wife
through telepathy, endured pain by stopping his thoughts
with the words ‘Jesus, I love you’ – I was filled with dread
because I feared I could never endure as he did

I felt overwhelmed for so long knowing it was something I
could never aspire to - today, I still haven’t mastered the
practice of meditation, though reading positive words over
and over; I flee into Wurmbrand’s strength

From unsettling books like ‘Hungry Ghosts’ by Joe Fisher,
knowing the Christian faith is stronger than the channeling
of malevolent spirits; thanking Wurmbrand for teaching me
to find respite from human mental constructs

In the most beautiful mystery of all, a belief system so under
siege by cynical materialists, the only refuge is to say - of all
self-created ideas, this is the most wonderful one offering
more happiness than any other I’ve read

More validation is not required by me, a study of delight in God,
the ecstasy of happiness, sitting alone in wisdom and fear,
shielding the heart from the burning arrows of thought –
though it is still only a dream for me

It is my highest ideal….

Richard Wurmbrand “In God’s Underground” edited by Charles Foley,
Garden City Press,1968, p.9