PROSE

A LOVING FATHER

A child and his father are walking hand in hand
Along a quiet country road, and they come upon a tree
The child asks permission to climb the tree
To which his father softly replied “No”

As they are passing the tree
The child lets go of his father’s hand and starts to climb it
When he gets to the first branch the child falls and scrapes his knee
The father bends down, cleans the wound
And softly asks him if he is fine

The child with tears in his eyes, looks into the father’s eyes
And sees a tear running down his face
The child asks for forgiveness for not obeying him
And the father forgives him
The child and the father resume walking, hand in hand, along the quiet country road

A teenager and his father are walking side by side
Along a quiet country road and they come upon a tree
The teenager asks his father if the tree would hold his weight
To which is father softly answers “No”

The teenager decides to climb it anyway
He gets to the third branch, and it breaks
He falls and breaks a leg
The father bends down and puts a splint in place

The teenager with tears in his eyes looks into his father’s eyes
And sees a tear running down his face
He asks his father for forgiveness for not listening to him
And as the father picks him up, he forgives his son
The father carries the teenager along the quiet country road

A man and his father are walking side by side
Along a quiet country road and they come upon a tree
The man asks his father if he can cut the tree down
His father softly asks him “Why?”

The man answers that he had hurt himself twice while climbing it
And he did not want anyone else to get hurt
The loving father looked into the man’s eyes and softly replied
“It was your decision to climb the tree that hurt you, not the tree itself”

And so, it is with God, the loving Father,
We, His children
And the tree of life.

Richard Boulay, March 2014

TWO MUSICIANS

Two musicians, who don’t know each other, decide to give away a guitar to the first stranger they meet. The first musician, with guitar in hand, goes for a walk. He stops the first person he sees, and says “Hi, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but I’ve decided to give you this guitar. But, there are conditions that are to be met. First, you must learn to play Hotel California, and play it for me when I visit you. Secondly, you must put your guitar in your living room, so when I visit you I’ll know that you appreciate it. If you don’t meet these two conditions, I will take the guitar back.

The second musician, with guitar in hand, goes for a walk. He stops the first person he sees, and says “Hi, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but I’ve decided to give you this guitar. The guitar is my gift to you to do what you will. You can put it in your closet and let it collect dust, you can sell it, or you can give it away. You can do with it what you please. Now, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to share what this guitar can do for you, this is from personal experience. When you play the songs you like, it puts you into another world. The worries of this world disappear for a while. And as you learn new songs, you will experience confidence in your abilities, and as your confidence grows you will want to share your gifts with others. Now, this is where your experience jumps to another level. As you play in front of people, and see their appreciation for your gifts, you will feel such peace and happiness, that others will be affected by it, and will want to experience what you are experiencing. I promise you this is only some of the benefits you will experience if you decide to learn and play the guitar. Here is my card with my phone number and address. If you want me to teach you, I will; if you have any questions, give me a call and I will help you, or if you want to get together just to play some songs together I will make myself available to you. Like life, learning to play the guitar requires practice and work, but believe me when I tell you that it is totally worth it.
I think most people believe God to be like the first musician. I believe God to be like the second musician. Forgiveness is the guitar, a gift given to us, through Jesus, to do with as we choose. An action is required, whether you walk away from the gift, or choose to accept it, it is a decision and an action required by each and every one of us.