I walked where the night falls
Flickers of light when I can’t really see
And I watch the broken and the burdened
And I see me
Who knows who I am
Certainly not me
But here in the void, where I wonder at light or day, I am found.
So scream angels
And cry holy
Because he is!
And fight for tomorrow
Because it’s coming.and you and I are here.
So breathe!
I’ll be honest,
Sometimes I don’t know if up is down. Or right is left or who let the dogs out…cue the song “who…who”
But I know who I am.
And maybe. That’s enough…
But in the morning, it feels like nothing, as I start again. And that can be debilitating.
So we scramble from night to day and wonder where the light will land.
And we are more than conquerors even when we don’t feel it.
But sometimes we don’t.
And we walk forward because the light calls to us and there’s no other choice.
Keep going or die here. So we walk.
But if the light had eyes and voice and tears, would it beckon us into the void?
I don’t know but I’m walking and so are you.
Let’s go together
What else is there?
There is is rhythm and life to who we are and what we expect and all the things we leave unsaid.
It pulses in the background until the smallest thing becomes the biggest in the room
Sing into the night, melodies, only you can hear’
When the moments of peace give way to tsunami.
But love can conquer all if we let it.
Find the counterpoint and disrupt the rhythm.
Be brave
Be strong
Or fall apart for a minute and pick up the pieces.
Be you
Cry, if you must.
Scream, if you must.
Then walk forward.
Don’t be silent
But don’t let the need to be heard consume you.
Just keep walking.
This is life.
This is real.
This is fabric knit together to make us more.
Don’t miss out because all you see is, “the thing”
And don’t miss out because you are too afraid to find your voice.
Be real. Be raw. Be you!!!!!
And forget the crowd that may not approve.
Find yourself in the author of life.
Walk in the discovery because THAT is everything!
Who are we to claim the stars when the earth crumbles around us?
Human, and breathing, and grasping for eternity in the midst…we flail and fall and try again and get up
Because we are breathing and, despite the broken, we find light.
And if light isn’t enough, we claw at the darkness and rise again in the morning
And that, is life…
The rising and falling of tides and moonlight
Don’t dream of a world without pain.
Dream of a world with resilience.
The latter is so much more important!
Find yourself in the beginning of tomorrow instead of the end of yesterday
And maybe that’s enough.
The stuff that brings the “real” and the “raw”
And find yourself devoted to being real.
Find yourself devoted to who you are in Christ and who you are in the midst of the the hurt.
We cannot be salt and light without being willing to “cure’ and wade through the dim.
Don’t expect “easy”, expect “ hard” and be willing to walk through it to the other side.
Why we think we’re exempt is beyond me.
You are meant to be light! So SHINE!!!
I sit in spaces, lost between the worlds
Who I am, and who I should be
Breaking, with the glimmer of light.
And I can be so broken…I should be
But I’m not
I’m stronger than the wind, because it passes while I remain
So I stare at rainbows
Reminders in the sky of what can be, when sun and rain collide
That maybe, where my trauma and truth collide, there can be beauty
And I can be a reminder.
Choose to be bigger
Don’t let the sun dim to fade
Shine!
You were made for more! And so was I
In the still, find breath and breathe.
It’s enough; I promise!
Life is beautiful in the noise
In the rough
In the torrent
In the pain
In the surreal
In the pulling up and walking on
In the mornings of not enough coffee
In the ache
In the breaking
In the grace pouring beyond what we expect.
Life is beautiful in the forward motion
Walk on, feet!
Even when the beat doesn’t proceed you
Even when the sun has set
Wake up and walk
Move
Breathe
Hard
Breathe
Deep
Walk
Feel the pulsating rhythm of the pulse inside you
Feel deep calling to deep
Embrace the moments that scar
Then throw them to the sea, a testament to tomorrow
Live! Then…
Live again
If I’m going to fall, can I please fall hard and hit my head?
Can there be concussion and bruising so I don’t look like a fool?
Can I rest in the “okay-ness” of my weakness?
If I do, do I have to wait for a diagnosis?
Fallen, in need of grace?
Can’t we just be human?
Wake up sleepers
Wake up church!
In the land of the living, an anchor holds
And we get to reveal it and show it to the masses
That’s enough
Love is enough
We can kick and claw and scream at the wind
We can cry behind closed doors
But we can’t stop reaching
For real love!
THAT is the anchor
Nails and thorns and mercy on a cross
And death giving way to victory
Who are you?
Who does He say I am?
Where is victory?
Can you see it today?
If not, look again.
It’s worth fighting for!
Time is a funny thing.
It flies
It pauses
It groans for tomorrow
It longs for yesterday
It moves
In waves
While the world continues, as it seemingly stops for some
But it is.
Time is
And we grovel at it’s feet
And we wonder where the break pedal is
And we clasp onto what we can hold
And we long for bricks to put on top our children’s heads to stop the growth
All the while praying they will grow, healthy and strong, and prepared for tomorrow
I watch you grow and I beg for it to stop and continue while I sit like an Alanis Morissette lyric, contracting truths against each other.
And we grow and move
And live and have our being in the moment
Sweaters on backward and inside out and all
Until we feel the most of a new day
And breathe
Deep
Because today is wrapped in tomorrow and yesterday at once
And I am you and you are me together, bracing for the impact
Life is more than we see
Life is wrapped in the endless toil of a day well lived, and a tomorrow, begging for something
Whatever that may be
My tomorrow is different from yours
But it’s the same
The hand of God, making meaning, while we go
And that’s enough
At the end of the day, it’s enough
Forward motion makes for meaning
So RUN!
Then look at yesterday and today and smile
Knowing tomorrow is breath
And we’re all running
So, my mornings are always morning before morning should be allowed
I’m not a morning person…working on this…
But in anticipation of tomorrow, I plan.
I pack lunchboxes and clean and lie clean clothes on racks and hooks, and find shoes lost by minions (small people I’m charged to raise)
But, unfortunately, sometimes I dread the day ahead.
I’m not proud of it.
And I think if His mercies new every morning and the blessing of parenthood and employment and a life well lived.
But in reality, I go to bed knowing my alarm will sound the horror bell of having to wake up when I want to sleep.
Still, there’s a blessing when the coffee and the day kick in.
When sunlight brings possibilities that I haven’t imagined.
So I ride before the sun and do it again and again.
This life doesn’t have to be brilliant or awesome in the light of day but it has to continue to bring meaning.
So today leads to tomorrow and every moment, even the mundane, leads to greatness.
Will I be remembered for the lunches I pack and the jokes I wrote in sharpie on ziplock? Probably not. But will I be remembered for my perseverance and strength? I hope so.
Wake up tomorrow and do it again.
Just go!
One foot in front of the next, in excellence. It’s all anyone can ask and it’s more than enough.
Two cents from the routine.
Two cents to manufacture a million. Just RUN!
What makes glorious life?
When pen and plight, too numb, collide
What beauty permeates stone?
Till I, in He, resound alone.
We talk, so often of death and pain
Yet forget the living
And here I stand with arms, waiting for direction, aiming for the target I cannot see
Or maybe I can…
Or maybe I am hesitant to step, without seeing where my feet will land
Either way, pen in hand, write my story.
I’ll go
INSPIRED BY THE COMFORTER 