Thursday, December 16

For all this his anger has not turned away, his hand is stretched out still.
—Isaiah 9:17

The Approach

Christ comes like flaming sumac
blazing out in my October wood,
consuming my dry limbs,
my hollow trunk,
my chaff.

More often, though,
like the lace-edged lichens
building bit by bit
upon my Mexican persimmon,
olive-orange he comes,
and quietly in the fog
he comes;
through January’s dark
he comes,
until complete, he covers me—
my twisted branch,
my leafless form,
my life.

O God who is always reaching out to your creation, so infuse me with your spirit that my life becomes yours, and yours, mine.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2004.