I consider myself a bit of a wordsmith. Much like a blacksmith could take a raw piece of metal to form and fashion something of great beauty or of great use, I love to take language shape and mold descriptions and stories. I like to take the obvious and make it astoot and remarkable.
But in life there are moments that steal the vocabulary even from the wordsmith in all of us. So this left me with the question of what do you say in the moments that leave you speechless? If you have never experienced one of these moments let me describe it for you. In the briefest of instants it is as if someone has cut the red wire on the bomb in your brain that connects intelligble thoughts to explosive device known as your tongue, so that all the seems to come out is a collection of stammering um's and uh's.
It is the moment you see your first born son and your dad quietly puts his arm around you and the only emotion that can be expressed is the single tear that rolls down your cheek. It is the moment your wife steps out in that dress and after 12 years of marriage you see her more beautiful in that light than any time before.
It is also the moments you unexpected pull out your best suit in order to bury a friend far too early and far too young. It is the moment you hold a grandparents hand at their bed side one last time.
Speechless moments are no respector of person or time or place. The come in moments of sadness, moments of laughter and sometimes just moments. What I have come to understand after much years of being a talker, is that there are some moments when nothing needs to be said at all. There are moments where silence says enough. Other moments when the noise of an embrace is the most comforting sounds. And times when the ums and uhs lead us to laughter and that laughter leads to tears. Maybe after the clicks of the keyboard have silenced I will realize there really is nothing left to say.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Tuesday Tune
Sara Bareilles hit the charts as a singer song-writer with the melodic piano melodies of the non-love song "Love Song". Legend has it that her record label was pushing her to add another ballad to her debut album "Little Voice". Out of that prompting came the hit anthem about not writing a love song. Sara blends pop/rock with soulful melodies and heart hitting lyrics.
Recently I watched Sara live (unfortunately not in person, but on TV) with her show at the Filmore. Tuesday's Tune comes off her sophomore effort entitled "Kaleidescope Heart". So turn down the lights and maybe grab you sweetie and dance the night away with the acoustic version of Many the Miles.
Recently I watched Sara live (unfortunately not in person, but on TV) with her show at the Filmore. Tuesday's Tune comes off her sophomore effort entitled "Kaleidescope Heart". So turn down the lights and maybe grab you sweetie and dance the night away with the acoustic version of Many the Miles.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wells
On my great-grandmother's property was an old school water well, with the bucket on a rope and everything. I remember two things about that well. One we would threaten to push one another down it and two it smelled and tasted like blend of dirty sweat sock with hint of rotten eggs. Umm, deliteful!
But that well had a purpose. It was many years after they lived on that property that running water was put into the house. So that well supplied water for drinking (if you could stomach it), for washing clothes, dishes and faces of 6 children.
To me what is so interesting about a well is that it requires rain. Rain is what feeds the supply of water that sits at the bottom of that long hole in the earth. Those dark, ominous clouds hold the source of supply for that well.
Just this last weekend my three year old daughter sat on a blanket on a bleachers under an umbrella watching her two older brothers play baseball. Eventually both games would be postponed due to, you guessed it, rain. Rain was the spoiler of our great day at the ball park. So often we curse the rain. The rain wreaks havoc on our plans of fun in the sun.
Rain is often the describing word we use for when life is not going the way we want. "When it rains, it pours" to be precise is the words that often leave our mouths. But when it rains it supplies, it fills the well. So I have decided to dig a well in my life. Knowing that three things in life are for certain: death, taxes and eventually it will rain. I plan on taking life's rainy challenges, all it's falling precipitation and turning it into something useful.
According to the country song, "rain is a good thing." While Luke Bryan and I may agree our reasons vary greatly. Rain in our life is our opportunity to grow, to learn, to become something better and greater. Jesus said this "the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous." My plan is to dig a well and make something useful out of life's rain.
But that well had a purpose. It was many years after they lived on that property that running water was put into the house. So that well supplied water for drinking (if you could stomach it), for washing clothes, dishes and faces of 6 children.
To me what is so interesting about a well is that it requires rain. Rain is what feeds the supply of water that sits at the bottom of that long hole in the earth. Those dark, ominous clouds hold the source of supply for that well.
Just this last weekend my three year old daughter sat on a blanket on a bleachers under an umbrella watching her two older brothers play baseball. Eventually both games would be postponed due to, you guessed it, rain. Rain was the spoiler of our great day at the ball park. So often we curse the rain. The rain wreaks havoc on our plans of fun in the sun.
Rain is often the describing word we use for when life is not going the way we want. "When it rains, it pours" to be precise is the words that often leave our mouths. But when it rains it supplies, it fills the well. So I have decided to dig a well in my life. Knowing that three things in life are for certain: death, taxes and eventually it will rain. I plan on taking life's rainy challenges, all it's falling precipitation and turning it into something useful.
According to the country song, "rain is a good thing." While Luke Bryan and I may agree our reasons vary greatly. Rain in our life is our opportunity to grow, to learn, to become something better and greater. Jesus said this "the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous." My plan is to dig a well and make something useful out of life's rain.
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