The Little Gate to God

In the castle of my soul is a little garden gate,
Whereat, when I enter, I am in the presence of God.
In a moment, in the turning of a thought, I am where God is,
This is a fact....

When I enter into God, all life has meaning.
Without asking, I know; My desires are even now fulfilled,
My fever is gone. In the great quiet of God
My troubles are but pebbles on the road,
My joys are like the everlasting hills....

So it is when my soul steps through the postern gate
Into the presence of God.
Big things become small, and small things become great.
The near becomes far, and the future is near,
The lowly and despised are shot through with glory...
God is the substance of all my resolutions;
When I am in him, I am in the Kingdom of God
And in the Fatherland of my Soul.

Walter Raushenbusch (1861-1918)