Dead Roots

In another dream,

I was

wandering down a country road,

paved,

but barely.

I stumbled upon a dead tree,

large, with two trunks.

One had fallen, and the other

was left standing.

Dead leaves still clung to 

several branches,

brown and withered,

crunchy and thin. 

I stopped, and squatted 

next to the roots,

and looked beyond 

the fallen trunk. 

Dark mud and a pond. 

A familiar car approached

and slowed. 

A man from my church 

stopped the car, rolling down the window.

"You look a little lost?"

"Just out for a walk and I stopped here,

but I will get going soon."

"I will be in church Sunday.

Maybe I'll see you."

"Yes, I think so."

Every tree that does not bear good fruit,

is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I am the vine; you are the branches.

If you remain in me, and I in you,

you will bear much fruit;

apart from me you can do nothing.

Set your mind on things above,

not on earthly things. 

As I awoke, these verses came to mind.

The body dies. 

Many trees live longer than people.

Trees that fail to bear fruit demonstrate

that they are sick. 

How do we know if a tree is dead or alive?

We study the leaves and the branches.

Tapping into the dead roots, and the trunk,

we find no sap. 

Nothing is green. 

The tree is ready for the fire. 

Where is the root that is everlasting? 

What can stay alive? Where is resurrection possible?

Close your eyes. Sit up tall. Send roots down into the earth. 

Will the roots take hold? 

What of this tree? 

Are these dead roots? 

Look and you will see!

Ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you. 

If we look at the branches,

really look at them,

we know if the tree lives. 

If the tree is dead, keep going.