“Wealth” (Ps.1) [Reflections on Book: Wm.C.King (ed) Portraits and Principles of The World's Great Men And Women Chicago: The King-Richardson Co. 1899 - #16/100]

“The church should be run like a business”, I wrote,
“And the business be run like a tree”;
Folks asked me whatever I meant by those words,
For it held massive meaning for me.

A tree by the water draws on that resource,
From which it produces its fruit;
Its structure is needed to pull off this task,
Encasing the seed, viewed as loot.

But soon I perceived that it also was true
That a storehouse of loot was not good;
For sterile was seed when encased in stone walls,
Not making more trees as it should.

With focus on trees, with their seed as the key
To life with abundance produced,
Skips ’round all those issues of kids born to wealth,
Where selfishness oft is induced.

For trees produce fruit, bearing seed far beyond
It’s use to make trees, each the same;
Abundance is not for one purpose, but scores,
It’s part of the world-feeding game.

We all are a part of a network that’s vast,
Interlinked and dependent at base;
To hold back resource from its free-flowing role,
Is Short-sighted – it’s always the case.

So business is just like a tree, making seed,
Encased in some fruit for its start;
If Churches took time to reflect on their role,
They’d soon recognize they’ve a part –

To play in defeat of the evil-one’s ways,
As Jesus is tasked now to do;
For seed with its fruit, like my birch in the back,
Makes more trees – stores carbon for you.

Thanks Lord for this.

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