Love is hard
when we forget how simple it is.
When what is asked of us is questionable,
love answers low and clear.
Our questions echoing back to us,
as love asks, ‘Who am I?’
So when love is hard,
we remember how simple it is.
We need not cling
to what is right,
for if our neighbour disagrees,
where does it leave us both?
Instead love responds with a question,
‘How do you show Me?’
And the answer becomes,
to love and not judge,
to hear and not correct,
to sit and receive,
embrace and encourage.
To love,
as though the other were us.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2019
‘The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.’
John 21:17
‘ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone… I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.’
1 Cor 9:19-23
Living Tree Poetry 