TreeNotes

From the countless trips up this great mountain we call Spirituality, I share snippets and moments that brought a great deal of meaning to me. This is a sober attempt at resurrecting the faith and hope, strength and willingness, encouragement and grace to any one who finds themselves in the ‘lost and found’ office of life, having misplaced one, if not all of the above. Similar to before, The Watchman and I reached the top of the mountain, there was no dinner nor singing of hymns. This time, I was the one who headed straight to the peak and turned around facing His direction, “ Today I am not brave, while you remain the Great I Am, so please hear my words. " And so it went; “ The journey of Spirit has been hard but great, like your love. Intense but filled with grace, like your heart. You have taught me that words are not the best way to communicate with you, but today words are all I have, so please bear with me. Jeso yo bonolo, tsela e boima ye ke e tsamayang, Modim...

The Watchman's Interlude The heavy burden of the truth can only be experienced through spirit. Before now, I did not comprehend what that meant, while understanding came once I was able to do away with my opinion of right or wrong, and only sought to sit and listen. On another ascent up the mountain with The Watchman, We reached the top, this time there was no dinner nor singing of hymns. The Watchman headed straight to the peak and turned around facing my direction with his back towards the town below.  “Today I am not bold and you are not brave , today I Am and you just listen". And so it went; " It is written that one should ask and they will receive, knock and the door shall be opened. It is also written that seek spiritual enlightenment first and then everything else shall follow, how much more for the one who perseveres till the end. In his day, the Son of Man took the time to teach you about the reality of compassion, the pain of forgiveness and the tough j...

Since the Watchman has his weekly expedition up the mountain, I joined him along these trips whenever I could. The following was a summary of the conversation one particular week, the lighting of a torch I've come to hold on to...  The rules didn't change, The Watchman was Bold for bringing me along, I was brave for coming. We had our mountain dinner in silence as usual and sang a hymn before we began, and so it went... Ho phela le Morena wa ka, lekunutung la hae, Ho rutwa ke eena Jeso ke le maotong a hae, Ha ho letlhogonolo le kang leo, ha ke bona, La ho utlwa hoba Jeso ke dintho tsohle ho nna, Hoja nka 'na ka phela le Jeso ka mokhwa ona, Ke ne ke tla 'ne ke fetohe ya tshwanang le eena, Ka khalalelo, ka boineelo, le boitelo, Ka thabo le ka khotso, haholo ka lerato. sefela ~ 292 To dwell within your presence, your holy dwelling, To be taught by you oh Lord, as I sit by your feet, How fortunate I am is beyond me, to be able to hear, As you are everything to me and more o...

[Continued from the previous post called "Mountain Peace"] I joined the Watchman for another weekly ascent of the mountain called Spirituality, this time it was a quicker climb than the first hike. Once we reached the top, he prepared another ‘mountain dinner’ for us and we ate in silence, again. After dinner we proceeded to the peak of the mountain and sat down, with a bird’s eye view of the town below. The watchman handed me his hymnbook and asked that we sing a hymn before we continued; O morati ea nthatang, Ea ikentseng motsoalle, Wa pelo e tshepehang, Ngoan’eso ka sebele. O jeso, Jeso wa ka, Wena Morwa Modimo, Ha o mpona lefeela, O nthata keng hakalo? Leha o le Morena, O hlompheha hakalo. Ha o itloaetsa ‘na o mokaakang mohlolo! Ee, pela hao, Monghadi, Dihlong dia ntshoanela, Ha o bua, Monghadi, Tsoalo le se fele. ~Sefela #360 Dear Father, you have made yourself known to me, With a loving heart, you have pulled me close to you. ...

Since December 2014 I have been on a journey seeking to know the ‘truth about life’ and in the beginning I was not quite sure what I was looking for, but I was curious – so I started walking. The first few years I read a lot of books ranging from Personal Development, Philosophy all the way to the Bible in 2018. Now as a seeker, I have one rule - which is to always keep an open mind. That discipline has allowed my curiosity to be quenched every step of the way. Three years ago, whilst walking this path to ‘know’ I came across a mountain with what seemed like a little town right at the bottom of it, the aura of the place lit up a fire inside of my heart which led me to drop literally everything in my life to explore it – This mountain is called Spirituality. As I walked through the gates, I met a man whom I assumed was the gatekeeper, I told him that I was a seeker looking for a place to stay within the town, he looked at me with a smile and said “I see you have come well-dressed” refer...

It is not easy to turn a new leaf, it is not easy to change your life for the better. Happiness is hard to come by when you find yourself in situations that you struggle to get out of, but we try anyway because the hope that things can be better is usually stronger than the desire to give up. Many of us go through life alone, trying to fix everything ourselves because we feel that no one understands or worse - we feel unworthy of any help that may present itself in our time of need.  There comes a time where you'll try every and anything to fix your life and as different as our struggles may be - we all reach a breaking point at some time. It is at that time where prayer becomes the only solution, that prayer is usually so heartfelt - tears will be rolling down your cheeks because you'd be tired of trying so hard but still not making any progress.  This is the breaking point I'm talking about, where doing things alone is no longer an option nor is it bearable - it is the m...

It is written in the Bible, "There is a time and season for everything under the sun".  I previously emphasized the importance of creating space for God to operate in your life, by letting go of those things/people whom are hindering your progress in any journey you've chosen to change your life for the better. It is absolutely necessary to put your crutch down.  Keep in mind that praying is not 'talking to God', it's praying and in the same light Talking to God is not praying, but a conversation. We all wish to have a one-on-one conversation with God - while ignoring the responsibility that comes with such a privilege. I say that because He has things to say/ask of you too - most of which we are not ready to hear nor execute.  In this era of the "Holy Spirit" any one person  truly seeking  is capable of hearing God in one way or another - without having to be "spiritually gifted". If you have  realised that your way of doing things hasn...