Catechism 7

What does the law of God require?
Personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience; 
that we love God with all our heart, soul, 
mind, and strength; and love our neighbour as 
ourselves. What God forbids should never be done
and what God commands should always be done.
(New City Catechism)

And what does He require of you, O man –
hand teetering above the apple trees,
soul teetering between trust and loss,
life moving away from what is life,
mind stretching out to take it all?

What does He require, walking with you,
all the garden your playground,
all the forest your living room,
all the trees yours to climb,
every creature your companion?

That you do justice, of course –
the justice of a king who rules,
who set the rules in place, who knows
the tides, the times, the spheres, the domes,
the ways that all our motions go –

and that you love His mercy too,
though mercy now’s confused with rules
and seems to you to mean permission,
the other option far too strict:
a God where you’re not God.

Walk humbly, too: this option cuts
into your conscience, drives you far
away from where He walks, into
the trees to hide from Him who sees
and knows the ways our motions go.

What, O man, does He ask of you,
when everything He has is yours,
with everything laid at your feet,
your heart prepared to be His throne,
your heart striving to climb?

(Image: edited from "Adam und Eva im 
Paradies", Lucas Cranach the Elder)