Living Tree Poetry

The Kingdom of God is like a bird
whose nest is blown down in a storm,
but sings still –
the resource at its disposal,
all the world God owns.

The Kingdom of God is like a hand,
opening and closing at God’s pleasure,
and will –
trading the jewels of wealth and privilege
for the pearl of greater worth.

The Kingdom of God is deep
as a cavern in rock,
the eye cannot see –
moving when we do, ocean currents drawn
and propelled by forces beneath.

The Kingdom of God is a whistle,
a call to sheep
who know its register –
who come and go according to a voice distinct to their owner.

The Kingdom of God is a seed,
a piece of broken bread,
wine poured forth –
a tree, its branches fed in living sap,
and a dry earth drinking.

The Kingdom of God is a person alone,
divested of props or security,
restored with nothing
but an empty hand, a walking staff –
a map to eternity.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
June 2020

“Remember, I don’t even own a place to lay my head.  Foxes have dens to live in,
and birds have nests, but I, the Messiah, have no earthly home at all… Let those without eternal life concern themselves with things like that.  Your duty is to come and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God to all the world.”
Luke 9:57-60

‘Sometimes on a human journey, a person can stay marooned on the surface of their minds, and on that surface suffer all the devastation of doubt, confusion, and great turbulence; while the whole time, just a couple of inches deeper, there was a vast world within them; a wonderful interiority; an eternity of great life and vision and memory and possibility nesting in the deep clay of their hearts that they never even knew was there.’
~ John O’ Donohue, Wisdom from the Celtic World