life: acoustic & amplified

God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, or sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way. –Anonymous

19 years ago today

I stood at the edge

of a great abyss 

in life

a part of me,

not known until that time,

had awakened

now I had a choice to make,

to accept –

or deny –

this part of myself,

which was revealed 

in such a wild, 

drastic,

unexpected

and overwhelming manner

I knew this would be

what, ultimately,

saved,

or

destroyed,

my life.

as I stood,

still in innocence,

not really knowing –

yet, somehow,

knowing in every way –

the costs,

the benefits,

the responsibility,

the awareness.

the long dark road ahead,

the excruciating valley years to come,

the sharp, rugged climb up the mountain. 

19 years ago,

on this day,

I struggled 

with all of this.

I made certain vows 

concerning the choices 

I would make through 

my time of learning:

I would only follow love. 

No matter how I failed, I would remember it is not about how good I am. I would try to live the words of Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount. 

I would never make a choice 

simply to benefit myself 

or to get money. 

I would learn to be truthful and fair and be the person I wanted to be. 

I would be honest with myself – always – especially when I was wrong, or made a mistake. 

I would stay aware and learn – so I would not make the same mistake twice. 

I would make the best choice I could any given moment, and then move forward the best I could with no regret. 

I would do my best and give my best. 

I would look for good things every day. 

That day I said ‘yes!’ to life

I jumped off the cliff

and began…

for good…

for bad…

to make my choices 

from a new place of radical trust. 

the rest is my history…

🍎

AL

All of my life I searched for truth and wanted to be beautiful

All my life I kept on moving looking for my home

All my life I played the part that someone else said was beautiful

All my life I lived afraid I couldn’t play that part

now I knock upon your door hear what my heart’s been longing for

welcome home

you belong

you are here 

where I love you, 

I want you

welcome home

won’t you stay

in my arms

I will hold you, 

I need you

I won’t ever leave you

you are home

you are never alone

welcome home

I will sing you a song

I will build you an alter

I will shout to the hills

I will rise to the sky

I will bake you some bread

I will drink to your honor

I will dance in the rain

I will celebrate always

🏡

AL

 
Character. Strength. Intelligence. Style. That makes beauty.

💞

— Diane Von Furstenberg 

A man looked for meaning.

For his very place in life.
He searched high and low.
He’d often hear a whisper, calling

his name from the other side

of what seemed like a door.
A door that remained hidden

from his ability to see.
Frustrated, he’d knock on

everything that resembled

a door. Turning here,

and there. Turning

just about anywhere.
Then one day,

unannounced,

it opened.
And he realised that he’d been

knocking from the inside.

And that the whisper

had been an echo.
The echo of his own soul

reminding him that

he was already home.

💞

The Whisper and the Echo by Nic Askew