When you see the green

When you see the green, run, why don't you!
Run fast towards the centre of your life,
where the freshness is spreading out,
whispering of newness and daring, of summer days
yours for the taking.

Do you ever wonder what it might be like
to trust this?

Do you ever think what your days might be like
populated with peace and love and laughter?
Our birth right.

Sparks of light dancing through the mess of it all.
Bunches of daffodils, out of season.

Would you ever, could you ever
wonder what gift might come,
if you just
gave
up
the fight?

Offering the fruits

Hold me in my grieving, Lord God Most High
as I let go of all that is not you.

The branch is ripe, if truth be told!
When the harvesters arrive they will laugh and sing
as they unencumber my loving.

Let me be wise enough to open wide the gate
of my giving,
stand ready ...
as I offer now the fruits of my life.

I only know

I only know it's you,
at the heart,
in the depth,
through the frozen,
peeking through,
budding forth
irresistibly.

The greening.

and do you know,
no, really know?

that beyond the sticky door of past betrayals
is the most amazing stretch of blue and green.
Moist underfoot, crisp air, sun shining straight
into the innermost, trapped down, broken heartedness of you.
Inviting you to feel, yes feel this new time.
Take a step, wriggle your toes, run.

Having eyes for the good

She is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, she has no eyes for it, she settles in the parched places of the wilderness, a salt land, uninhabited.

Rather be like the one who has eyes for the good, true goodness at the heart of it all.

With the Lord for her hope ... She is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green; it has no worries in a year of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17: 5-9)

Oh that I could really trust in the goodness of God this day!
Don't let me settle in the dried out places, where nothing prevails.
Help me notice the spring dressing the trees anew, inviting us into the time that is now.

Because

Because
you never know
when it might be your time.
Seize it.

Never let go of the love.

In all the times

In all the times in between
then
and now
you have been waiting
and watching, believing
and trusting
in me, and us.

For good.

Gracious God,
Be with us as we step out in new ways.
Help us to listen for the sound of your voice in unexpected places.
Draw us closer to you and to all those in need of love and compassion.
Only you can bring true peace to our troubled world.

Be with us,
embolden us,
call us forth in truth.

Amen.