The choice

Haiku of testing

Forty days and nights

in the wilderness, driven

by the wild Spirit.

A time of testing,

hunger and doubt. Who am I,

what am I to do?

The testing man comes

with his tempting offers: Turn

these stones into bread!

You can have it all;

the power and the glory.

Worship me; it’s yours!

Make a big display!

Throw yourself from this tower.

Angels will catch you!

No. I will not take

the easy road. Love’s pathway

is not without pain.

My course is from God;

I choose it, it chooses me;

and the suffering.

The tester departs.

leaves him alone with his thoughts.

At least, for a time.

© Ken Rookes 2022

Out into the wilderness.

Haiku for considering

The Spirit led him

out into the wilderness.

Time to think and pray.

Fasting forty days,

the pangs gnaw at the belly,

the mind becomes sharp.

The tempter comes by

to clarify the issues

and offer advice.

If you are the one,

the Son that God is sending,

make bread from these stones.

I could use some food.

There's so much more to living;

I'll take the hunger.

Look at the city!

Throw yourself from its towers;

angels will catch you!

It's there in the book,

if you make demands on God

you're missing the point.

Power and riches!

Trust me, you can have it all;

simply worship me.

Enough! says Jesus.

Life is real, becomes worthwhile,

when you're serving God

The tempter decamps,

leaving Jesus by himself

to weigh his options.

© Ken Rookes 2017.

In the wilderness

There must be a thousand temptations,

any dozen of which assail us

in any given twenty-four hour period.

Each one is subtly different,

but when we collect them

and place them under a microscope

we find that they all share the same essential DNA;

that they have all evolved from the one stem.

Power, wealth, comfort,

(I must have that!)

To be left alone to enjoy a peaceful existence,

(somebody else's problem, not mine /

I've done my bit / am I my brother's keeper?)

To be free from pain, suffering

(and therefore to forsake the work of love).

These, and the countless others,

all share in the same evolutionary taxonomy.

One, three or a thousand,

we all face our temptations,

every day.

Like Jesus in his forty-day wilderness struggle,

and through the years that followed.

Every day we face our temptations

and hope, like him,

that we can overcome.

© Ken Rookes 2016