WHATEVER IS—Sarah Chestnut

honest as an egg, sturdy 
as steel, compassed to Polaris, 
true as the healing ring 
slipped on the hand of the son 
with nothing to bring—

whatever is good as a grapevine, 
special as saved seed, sacred 
as God’s own name: he who is 
with you, is coming, is gentle
(not tame), holy as a homecoming—

whatever is clear-eyed, right-sized,
the fair mind, judicious line, weighty
and willing to wait, word-wise
and wondrous as the wing—

think on these things.  Whatever is clean 
as a polished tooth, spare time, tin roof.  
Pure as the small, bright face, hungry 
to learn.  All that comes as gift, 
all delightfully unearned—

whatever is lovely as first light, moonlight,
candle light.  Lovely as the letter lovingly sent.
Lovely as the hand that hands you the note.
Lovely as the thread that makes and mends—
think on these, hazard hope, heaven-bent—

whatever is worth the saying, worth the song—
all that lofts a body and summons it home.
O praise the runner and praise the race, praise 
the looked-for first finisher, and her in last place.


					-Philippians 4:8

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Originally from small-town California, Sarah Crowley Chestnut has lived and worked at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children for over a decade. Sarah’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Crab Orchard Review, Every Moment Holy Vol. III, The Windhover, CRUX: A Quarterly of Christian Thought and Opinion, Red Rock Literary Journal, and elsewhere. Her poem “Driving Home after the Eclipse, I Make Mental Notes” recently won first place in the 2025 Evangelical Press Awards.