JOY – 20 NOVEMBER 2020
  
 An autumn leaf falls from the tree.
 It is beautiful, with colours of orange, yellow and red.
 It is still damp, from the morning’s rain
 and its touch, light and soft.
 It is pliable – so it will not tear.
  
 When dry, after exposure to the cooling wind and wintry sun,
 it will become brittle and easy to break -
 though curled in delicate crispiness and beauty.
  
 We too are flexible, when watered by Heaven’s rain;
 inflexible, when made brittle and dry by life’s hurt and pain.
 We break up slowly, and parts of us fly away…
 dispersed by the chilling winds of time.
  
 But when we are bathed in the Holy Spirit’s light
 and soaked in His healing waters of life,
 we stay strong, even when we are fragile –
 beautifully whole…
 And kept free to fly with God’s grace.
  
 For we are drenched in Heaven’s joy,
 rejoicing in the Tree of Life,
 as we flutter and dance ‘and move and have our being’…
 for we are never crushed, but sustained by Life, itself.
  
 Juliehughespoetry(c)poetry2020