Tonight I watched most of "Jane Austen's Book Club." I'm not interested in a movie review and I'm sure you are not either, but it made me crave the company of a few certain girls, a pot of coffee, and a handful of rabbit trails that consumed meeting time like it was childhood.
After a lukewarm bath to ease my mind/soul/body I stumbled across a beat piece that captivated me:
We were so many,
We were working a one,
We were miles of moiling wheat
In a sizzling summer's heat.
But now we are scattered
And flung far apart,
But you and I still live as one
Through coals in the heart.
And if anything is left
Of the coal in the soul,
Oh, flash it to me.
-Ed Sanders, "Keeping the Issues Alive" (song)
The house is quiet now and I should probably chase the little white rabbit down the tunnel of sleep. Life is so rich with moments and fleeting thoughts that I believe I miss at least most of the poetry in my life. Perhaps there is beauty in the unseen, unnoticed, forgotten, and abandoned moments. The rose in the unravished forest blooms just as beautifully as the admired bud.
So the randomnities of my thoughts are probably contributed to by an array of songs that has had the audacity to relate to me tonight. Music and lyrics are magic to me.
Back Home - Yellowcard
Explanation - Train
It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock and Roll - AC/DC
Everywhere (Acoustic) - Michelle Branch
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United
I'm Not Myself - John Mayer
Tuesday's Gone - Metallica
Seventeen - Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw - Taylor Swift
No Complaints - Beck
Rose of My Heart - Johnny Cash
Alive- Becki Ryan
Apres Moi - Regina Spektor
Unconditional Love - Plain White T's
She's Not You - Elvis Presley
A Poor Man's Memory - Explosions In The Sky
Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin
Over and Over - Misty Edwards
Note to Self: Don't Die - Ryan Adams
Morning After - Elliott Smith
Trapeze Swinger - Iron&Wine
Polygraph Right Now - Spill Canvas
Just Wait - Blues Traveler
There Is No One - Barry & Michelle Patterson
Wait - Alexi Murdoch
Oh Well - Fiona Apple
§ And the music plays on...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
This Too Shall Pass
Another Christmas, another season, another new year. Taking a glance backwards is appropriate at this time because it serves the purpose of reminding us of blessings, growth, loss, changes, and the most crucial thing that I am coming to realize: this too shall pass. Most is so temporal and it is terrible that so significant a thought as "make every moment count" has become so cliché.
I have had delightful Christmases, stressful Christmases, painful Christmases, and various kinds of anticlimactic Christmases. This, by far, was the most unique I have ever experienced. This time home was "home" in a deeper, more abstract sense. Home was not home because that is where my toothbrush is kept, my sleeping done, or even where I know where the silverware is. Home is the place where the familiar is precious (and pretty much taken for granted) and the sharing of moments delightful (because history is mutual). It is where comfortable is more in the atmosphere than location and where unconditional love truly resides. Never before have I been so overwhelmed by blessing and known gratitude as such a heartfelt reality instead of a passing sentiment. My friends, I am rich in all that matters; the grace of God is undeniable in my life. I deserve it not and receive it still.
'Tis the season for resolutions and this is the first year I can recall that I have none. Sure, there are some things that I would not mind tweaking and improving. However, they are all what I have been resolved on previous to the end of the year. All that I really want in 2008 is for my life to look like the transition it ought to: seven is the number of completion and eight of new beginnings. What needs to end can and the best shall be sealed in the treasure-box of experience. The dead and done can give way to the fresh and lively. It truly is all new this upcoming year and I am ready for it; I'm tired of the goodbyes and drastic endings that have occurred over '07. I graduated and that was the beginning of many ends, so many "lasts" for a season of mine. It became a catalyst for firsts, a foreshadowing for this next year as a time beginning. So here I am welcoming '08 with open arms, an open heart, and great anticipation. Surrendered, I stand.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.
- Tennyson
I have had delightful Christmases, stressful Christmases, painful Christmases, and various kinds of anticlimactic Christmases. This, by far, was the most unique I have ever experienced. This time home was "home" in a deeper, more abstract sense. Home was not home because that is where my toothbrush is kept, my sleeping done, or even where I know where the silverware is. Home is the place where the familiar is precious (and pretty much taken for granted) and the sharing of moments delightful (because history is mutual). It is where comfortable is more in the atmosphere than location and where unconditional love truly resides. Never before have I been so overwhelmed by blessing and known gratitude as such a heartfelt reality instead of a passing sentiment. My friends, I am rich in all that matters; the grace of God is undeniable in my life. I deserve it not and receive it still.
'Tis the season for resolutions and this is the first year I can recall that I have none. Sure, there are some things that I would not mind tweaking and improving. However, they are all what I have been resolved on previous to the end of the year. All that I really want in 2008 is for my life to look like the transition it ought to: seven is the number of completion and eight of new beginnings. What needs to end can and the best shall be sealed in the treasure-box of experience. The dead and done can give way to the fresh and lively. It truly is all new this upcoming year and I am ready for it; I'm tired of the goodbyes and drastic endings that have occurred over '07. I graduated and that was the beginning of many ends, so many "lasts" for a season of mine. It became a catalyst for firsts, a foreshadowing for this next year as a time beginning. So here I am welcoming '08 with open arms, an open heart, and great anticipation. Surrendered, I stand.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.
- Tennyson
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