(A meditation on a pine cone and how it may depict life):

It is tatty, this pine cone.

It is tangled up with needles that protrude from its bones

Changing its shape.

They are thin and spindly, sharp and dead.

They present a small threat to those

Who pick the cone up.

They should not be there.

What sharp, dangerous points are there in my life that should not be there,

The remains of things that were and are no more

That maybe led me astray

And changed the shape of who I am?

Lord, whatever they are, show them to me

And help me to cast them off

And become the one You want me to be.

Then there is the core.

Holding all together.

Everything radiates from this centre

Which stands strong and solid.

It is this core that makes the major shape,

Changed on the outside by the sharp things of before

But the shape of what is supposed to be is there

Held firm.

Is this the core of faith?

Is this the core of God?

Is it You in me that makes me who I am?

Yes, of course.

You are the core.

You hold me together.

Everything else, even the sharp bits

Are held firm by You.

The arms radiate outwards and upwards

In a dance of praise.

Stretching out as far as they can reach,

They open themselves out to their Creator,

Offering their gifts, their seeds,

Their very being,

Back to Him.

This is where life is,

This joyous abandon,

This giving back to God of all

He has made me to be.

Taking His gift of seed

And casting it free to the wind

That it may blow where He wills

And settle where He plans

And grow how He decides.

This is the reason for being,

This joy, this using of gifts that have been given.

This is worship.

All that I am is Yours

All that I have is Yours

All that I will become is Yours,

Creator God.

And at the base of the cone

The arms are still tight.

What does this mean?

Is it an area of my life I am holding close to myself?

That I am reluctant to give You, Lord?

If so what is it?

I want to give You all of me.

Show me where I am resisting and rejecting You.

Or is it, perhaps, the future,

The potential I still have to fulfil;

The gifts I still have to unleash?

All those ideas and concepts that I am yet to receive,

All that life I still have to live

And give.

Lord, if this is it, then show me the way

I long to open up to You completely,

And worship You with every particle that is me.

Show me the way, Lord, to give myself freely to You

That You may be worshipped,

That the gifts You give may be used for You

And that I may fulfil the reason for my being

To the very end.