Living Tree Poetry

“Everything worthwhile is uphill… [the challenge is that] people have uphill hopes and downhill habits.”
John Maxwell

“Doing whatever one want is not freedom – it makes one a slave to self. With freedom comes responsibility.”
Unknown

“I have tried to do what is true and not ideal.”
Toulouse Lautrec

“He is not a fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliott

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Mark 8:36

My Prayer today is for truth.  For being committed to authentic, congruent living.  Where what we say and do reflects our beliefs, where the person we claim to be, is who we actually are.  Toulouse Luutrec reminds us in his profound quote above, that what is easiest is often not best, what may even seem ideal on the surface, is not always right.  Often the best things are the hardest things to do, and to do what is right can be a lonely, costly path.  Jesus walked this path all the way to Calvary. It was never about him, but about truth and purpose and God’s plan.  If he can do this, then we can deny ourselves, whether in controlling our emotions, corralling our appetites, or making the hard decision.  To live without restraint is to deny him in the way we act, and to deny who we are in him, people of the truth, and the light.  Today may we remember that honesty has its own reward, not only intimacy with others who have learned to trust us, but nearness to God whose smile we know upon us.

Go peaceful
in gentleness
through the violence of these days.
Give freely.
Show tenderness
in all your ways.

Through darkness,
in troubled times
let holiness be your aim.
Seek wisdom.
Let faithfulness
burn like a flame.

God speed you!
God lead you,
and keep you wrapped around His heart!
May you be known by love.

Be righteous.
Speak truthfully
in a world of greed and lies.
Show kindness.
See everyone
through heaven’s eyes.

God hold you,
enfold you,
and keep you wrapped around His heart.
May you be known by love.

~ Paul Field
From the Northumbria Community

These are drawn from daily reflections and prayers which I write for my Chaplaincy colleagues.