A family tree is grown with love.

ON ROOTS AND BRANCHES

I have been pondering on roots and branches

For I have a son who takes his chances,

And asks the neighbors for wood of all kinds

Then brings home the treasures he happens to find.

There have been branches I’ve found in our yard

Which do not belong to any tree of ours.

As I have wondered where these branches come from,

I realize they were carried home by my son.

 My son turns wood into bowls, benches, and pens.

Some day he may use it to cover the floor on our den.

He shapes it and sands it to display the beautiful grain,

And finds joy in each piece no matter how plain.

As I thought of my son’s love of trees,

I discovered these trees related to me.

My spouse and I have become the trunk;

And without our strength both root and branch are sunk.

We must draw nourishment and faith from our fathers’,

And share it with each of our sons and our daughters.

In return we must take joy in the young

And feed the root from the light of the sun.

Through this process our family becomes one.

Sometimes we might find a wild limb

But we must be careful how we prune and trim.

We must love the sinner, not the sin.

If we are too hasty in pruning our tree to enhance it,

We may cut off some of the most precious branches.

Some of us need more sanding and shaping

To bring out the beautiful grain that is waiting.

If you feel like you’ve been cut off from your home,

Come be grafted to ours; you are not alone.

The care of our tree cannot be left to chance

if we want to survive with each root and branch.