letters and lattes

I imagine
	       Rejection
Being much like a tree
Whose limbs sprout
In different directions
Offering
Various secondary
		       Emotions
Whose leaves
Cause further
Disharmony. 

You’ve hung yourself
On the branch
That says
	      Depression
While I’m stuck 
On the one
Labelled
	        Anger. 
I’m using every tool
	In my box
Hack, hack, hacking
	              Away
Knowing the fall
	             Is fatal.

Surely,
We’d both be safer
Just to climb
Back down. 

But I’ll cling to my limb
And you’ll hang from yours

Two branches
From the same tree
Bearing no fruit
Bringing no compromise. 

If I climb down
And get to the roots
Find cause
Seek truth
Maybe healing will find me
	    And yet - 
When I look up, 
All I’ll see 
Is your black feet. 

Is it better not to look?
Is it better just to walk away?


I pray, dear Lord, for us
To find another tree.
I’ll sit at the feet of 
			Yours. 
The one, on Calvary. 

I place my axe
My whole chest of tools
At the foot of Your Cross
As Your love
Your grace
Your mercy
Melts 
My anger
               away

I pick up my chest 
To find it’s been renewed, 
Filled afresh - 
            with seeds
I know I can carry these
I know I can choose
Bury them
Scatter them
Throw them
                 away.

I walk far from the shadow 
of that First tree
Knowing 
I was never meant to climb it
Leaving it, to Your hands
The power of Your grace

I plant my seeds
Hand on heart
Hand on earth
I water
I toil
I nurture
I wait - 

for the forest to come.
Grown 
in the goodness 
Of Your love.