How long will he allow me
to be fruitless and remain,
taking up ground?
I don’t know – but
to be forgiven, to stand
by mercy, a recipient of grace,
his undeserved love,
amazing!
What is my response to be
toward those who oppose him,
those who give offense,
the barren trees?
Being forgiven, I cannot cry out,
“Chop it down!”
Wanting justice, loving mercy,
I walk humbly with my God
and say, “Let it alone.”
Congruent with how he works
I exercise restraint,
not taking things into my own hands
but doing it his way.
Kingdom growth, not by amputation
but by attentive cultivation;
the slow solution;
the waiting
‘til kingdom come.

DAS

Consider the standard of living,
the world full of good things
the creator’s exuberant generosity.
Contemplate the vulnerability to greed,
a virus in the blood
interpreting riches as something
we deserve and ought to have.
Ponder the reasoning: we have so much
but there’s so much more to have, to use.
Though we have more than most,
more than we could ever really need,
we pursue even more, eager to obtain
the newest thing
the best available.
We build bigger barns to make room,
the more to have, to hold.

Remember the heart once
filled with Jesus,
the interior life, lavish, blessed,
a cup running over,
now divided, halved and quartered
by desire
looking for more
in the pattern of the American way,
the accumulation of stuff;
a focus on exterior values
to the neglect of the soul.

DAS

And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt
compassion, and ran and embraced
him and kissed him. And the son
said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before you.
I am no longer worthy to be
called your son.’ But the father
said to his servants, ‘Bring
quickly the best robe, and put
it on him, and put a ring on his
hand, and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fattened calf
and kill it, and let us eat and
celebrate. For this my son was
dead, and is alive again; he was
lost, and is found.’
And they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:20-14 [ESV}