Living Tree Poetry

“Don’t forget that in the midst of all your pain and heartache, you are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of creation, art, your music and culture, the sounds of laughter and love, of whispered hopes and celebrations, of new life and transformation, of reconciliation and forgiveness.”
Paul Young, The Shack

No matter what is going on in your life today, remember, it is only preparation. People come and go; situations rise and fall; it’s all preparation for better things. You must stretch, reach, grow into your goodness. Without the preparation we receive through adversity, disappointment, confusion, or pain, we could not appreciate the goodness when it arrives.
Iyanla Vanzant

In my story, light prevailed. However, I had to choose it.  I had to permit the light to come in.  No one else could have done it for me.  The difference between tragedy and triumph depends upon a series of decisions.
Lacey Johnson

MY PRAYER today is for acceptance.  The ability to receive the things that happen to us, accepting those things we do to ourselves, and others, in the mess of living, without allowing them to steal our hope, our joy, our optimism.  More often than not the sky is never fully blue and without a cloud, the water never completely clear, and our days not without disappointment.  Instead they are a mix of light and shade, four seasons playing out on the canvas of our lives, bringing depth and shade, colour and light.

And life, messy and beautiful, still astounds us.  Today looking into the clearest of oceans at Waiwera beach, 100s of shells, several feet below the surface, shimmered under a sun that danced along the water line.  The extraordinary for a moment transformed the ordinary.  Yes, because there are those moments when life’s muddy waters suddenly clear and we can see eternity, we can adjust to the rest.  We can try and turn our other moments in the direction of the light, and although we might not completely get there, the turning is often enough.

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