Are You the Busy One Doing It All?

Is it true that human beings freely do

All the many deeds that they seem to,

That freewill’s ability from You they got,

Being capable of willing to do or to not,

That among all the creatures that there are

Humans are especially distinguished by far

By alone being able to consciously choose

To do deeds on their own, or else to refuse?

Like many others, I for long thought this way,

For, that’s what most others would firmly say,

And it seemed so obvious that not once did I

Think this might be an illusion, or even a lie.

But much later in life (in fact, quite recently),

The thought began to well up within me

That maybe deeds just happen to be done

And the doer of all these might be none

But You, who’s so busy with doing them all,

The Puppeteer deciding what happens overall,

In Your world, all that’s thought, done and said,

You, and not us mere mortals, doing it all instead.

Is it You who’s been the Sole Doer of deeds all along?

Do tell me if I’m right, but perhaps I could be wrong.

I hope that I’m right, for what a relief it would be

To know that it’s You whose been the doer entirely.

How very comforting, and I might feel oh so free,

If I knew that all ‘our’ deeds are as per Your decree,

And not only this, but if I knew even more still,

That it’s You who do them all, just as per Your will.