Author’s Note: This is part of a 40 Day Lenten & Easter YWAP Devotional that explores self-sacrifice as it relates to the death and resurrection of Christ.
IF TREES COULD SPEAK
I can't feel my body.
I stand here naked and unfeeling.
My leaves have left me; they fell away in the fall.
I'm exposed to the bitter cold of winter judgment.
My branches stretch out like arms with frost bitten fingers.
My sap no longer flows; my lifeblood seems frozen inside me.
I can't feel my body.
I'm in a place of unfeeling, a place of lonely coldness.
My bark is crystallized, imprisoned with ice.
Some branches are broken from the weight of the snow.
My roots no longer stretch in the frozen earth below.
The leaves I once wore are blown away by the arctic air.
I can't feel my body.
So why can I feel pain?
Where do I feel pain, if I can't feel my body?
Some pain is my own. Others have hurt me and now their pain I own.
I watch people suffer and I soak up their sufferings like rain.
In a prison of pain I am frozen, in a cell all alone.
I can't feel my body.
I know I can pray. Should I ask for the pain to be taken away?
Or is the pain a gift designed by God to give me a lift.
Is all of His creation a classroom for me?
Out of my bleakness can I develop a "seekness?"
Can I seek spring and the healing warmth it will bring?
I can't feel my body.
I was a tree in the beginning, at the very first Fall.
The Fall of you, Mankind, because you wanted it all.
I held the fruit you picked that caused you guilt and shame.
You wear it now like a mantle; it's become a part of your name.
Unable to take it off, you react in fear pointing fingers of blame.
I can't feel my body.
I was a tree cut down and floated through town on 39 rivers of blood.
A Man was made to carry me and all of you upon my sturdy wood.
They froze Him to me with cold steel, pounded through His hands and feet.
I held Him like a leaf until He died and fell from my branches.
His last words I remember: "Please give them second chances."
Jesus rent the veil of our fleshly resentment with his sacrificial death. Let your resentment die. Sacrifice your resentment on the cross of forgiveness. Rip the curtain that separates love from fear.
DAY 13 WORD
"Get rid of your bitterness,
hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred.
Be kind to each other,
sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ."
Ephesians 4:31-32 GWT
HEART THOUGHTS
Deprivation reproduces through unforgiveness.
Resentment is repetitive through unforgiveness.
Shame is recreated through unforgiveness.
Blame revives shame through unforgiveness.
HEART REFLECTIONS
Make it your prayer to ask the Holy Spirit how to minister to shame filled people.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#ywap40daysoflent #ywap4Christ #JLYASDW
I stand here naked and unfeeling.
My leaves have left me; they fell away in the fall.
I'm exposed to the bitter cold of winter judgment.
My branches stretch out like arms with frost bitten fingers.
My sap no longer flows; my lifeblood seems frozen inside me.
I can't feel my body.
I'm in a place of unfeeling, a place of lonely coldness.
My bark is crystallized, imprisoned with ice.
Some branches are broken from the weight of the snow.
My roots no longer stretch in the frozen earth below.
The leaves I once wore are blown away by the arctic air.
I can't feel my body.
So why can I feel pain?
Where do I feel pain, if I can't feel my body?
Some pain is my own. Others have hurt me and now their pain I own.
I watch people suffer and I soak up their sufferings like rain.
In a prison of pain I am frozen, in a cell all alone.
I can't feel my body.
I know I can pray. Should I ask for the pain to be taken away?
Or is the pain a gift designed by God to give me a lift.
Is all of His creation a classroom for me?
Out of my bleakness can I develop a "seekness?"
Can I seek spring and the healing warmth it will bring?
I can't feel my body.
I was a tree in the beginning, at the very first Fall.
The Fall of you, Mankind, because you wanted it all.
I held the fruit you picked that caused you guilt and shame.
You wear it now like a mantle; it's become a part of your name.
Unable to take it off, you react in fear pointing fingers of blame.
I can't feel my body.
I was a tree cut down and floated through town on 39 rivers of blood.
A Man was made to carry me and all of you upon my sturdy wood.
They froze Him to me with cold steel, pounded through His hands and feet.
I held Him like a leaf until He died and fell from my branches.
His last words I remember: "Please give them second chances."
Jesus rent the veil of our fleshly resentment with his sacrificial death. Let your resentment die. Sacrifice your resentment on the cross of forgiveness. Rip the curtain that separates love from fear.
DAY 13 WORD
"Get rid of your bitterness,
hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred.
Be kind to each other,
sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ."
Ephesians 4:31-32 GWT
HEART THOUGHTS
Deprivation reproduces through unforgiveness.
Resentment is repetitive through unforgiveness.
Shame is recreated through unforgiveness.
Blame revives shame through unforgiveness.
HEART REFLECTIONS
Make it your prayer to ask the Holy Spirit how to minister to shame filled people.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#ywap40daysoflent #ywap4Christ #JLYASDW
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