Living Tree Poetry

If

we are all shadows on this earth.

If we pass away in a breath,
and dissolve like water
at the end of our life’s breadth,
but for our spirits…

If

we are all shadows,

then what do we build, that has any worth?
What do we make that we can keep?
What has eternal value
in a world of impermanence?

If

we are shadows,

then there is a light
behind and beyond us,
that defines our outline.
That casts us into a form that we can recognise.

If

we are shadows

then we together
make a picture of what is to come.
We are the drawing board
for a master design still to be outworked.

If

we are shadows

then there is something of substance
that marks out our outline on the wall.
Our spirits live, while our
bodies wane with each breath we draw.

So what do we build, that has any worth?
That lasts beyond this time and place.
If we are His church, of which the walls
will one day fall away,

then I wonder if it might be
our body and our hands,
indwelt by His spirit
that make up the building and the roof.

And will remain when all else dissolves like shadows,
at the end of the day.

Ana Lisa de Jong
October 2017

Image:  Pinterest

“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Hebrews 10:13

“….for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:14

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Matthew 24:35