When you find yourself with longings
that can’t be fulfilled,
think of God.
But not the God contained in books,
instead meet him in the meadow,
which was where he was
before anyone wrote about him.
And find this meadow God,
then think about him.
Realise how great he is to have made all this,
and to have made you here too,
wanting God knows what.
And know that you may want
all sorts of things –
or people, or lives –
and know that God who made you,
made you for the loving of him/her
(however you relate),
and that in that love is everything you want.
It’s just, what you are needing, craving
is only something wearing clothes,
and God can tend to slip in quite naked,
that, not knowing he’s there,
we don’t know we need him.
While he’s the substance of everything,
he just doesn’t tend to shout,
and we need to ask him his name.
So when you find yourself with need of anything,
instead of feeling incomplete or restless,
take yourself for a walk
by the riverbank,
among the wildflowers in the field.
There is someone there
who has come a long way,
and no distance at all,
to meet you and greet you
as though you hadn’t been missing.
And after,
you might not remember what it is you were wanting.
But you might,
and when you do, which you will,
then he can be found again quite easily.
For though he can seem quite small
and discreet and gentle,
he’s everywhere where things can’t be contained,
even longings.
Which means he’s great and expansive,
and you can lose yourself in him,
so much so that you feel quite found,
and warmly loved, and sometimes even
a little silly for the pining.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
May 2021
Living Tree Poetry 