During the retreat our minister led us on a journey of self-knowledge Рwhere we were in relation to God and where we stood as far as forgiveness of ourselves and others. From there we progressed on the journey to reach a stage of trusting God and recommitting ourselves to Him. We were invited to walk, pray, think, sleep, draw, write – in other words, to respond in any way God was prompting us. During my time outside I sat under a coral tree and found a seedpod there.
I read the book, The Cloud of Unknowing, and found that it dovetailed with what we were dealing with. I found this on page 93 after I had written my testimony (in the form of a poem) and found it to be an affirmation of what I had written: “We are being stripped of … our ‘outer’ self so that our ‘inner’ self can come to true life.”
This is what I wrote that day:
PROMISE
You showed me the blackened seedpod from the tree
Was this a representation of how You see me?
A thing of beauty and yet past its prime
Fallen from the branch, spent its useful time?
And then the seed caught my eye: blood red
Poised on the lip of one wavy bowl
And I felt a lift: I was being led
To revalue myself and the seed of my soul:
With Your love and nurture, with my love and trust
That seed-soul could renew and grow and thrust
And – who knows- the new tree that may thus burst forth
May indeed birth something that has great worth.
Helene Muller
New Zealand
