Friday, August 28, 2009

Times Like These

One day a few weeks ago, I was really struggling and despondant about the paths laid out before me and the blocks that I had put in my way by the limiting choices made months and years ago. The return to carpentery so necessary to pay the bills has the sobering and frightening side-effect of potentially curtailing my rediscovered creative efforts. I ambled about my little apartment, frustrated and despairing that all the work I had accomplished emotionally in the last year was vanishing as quickly as the money in my bank account.

In fact, I have learned some things and no matter how my insecurities cause me to doubt, the lessons seem to be sticking to me. Instead of crashing boldly into stop gap solutions that only caused more problems later, I sat down at my out-of-tune piano to clear my head and discovered a little melody that flowed out of nowhere into my fingers.

Melancholy and bittersweet, at first, the tune brought tears to my sad eyes, but I kept playing it and over the next days allowed words to wander through, some settling down into phrases pointing to a deep faith I wasn't sure I had.

Several old friends, some wonderful new ones, and a sister have all recognized it and held it sacred for me while I doubted. Their love and support has enabled me to leap into an abyss, knowing there is safety even in the scariest moments. For them, and one in particular, I have written this new song.



Now comes the time in any good nursery rhyme
When an ugly frog is turned into a prince of gold
I think we all agree life doesn't work that easily
Sometimes a hero gets left out in the cold
We say it's such a shame, but he shouldn't have stayed in the game
If he wasn't ready to win the fight
We watch him stumble and fall, into the darkness call
Looking for the strength to make it through the night
Doing what it takes to see the morning light
Every now and then I can see around the bend
To a place of sunshine that's so bright and clear
I see you standing there, a halo round your golden hair
Holding out your arms and telling me to have no fear
It'll be okay, you say, there's gonna come a better day
When I can raise my eyes to the sky and sing
We'll walk hand in hand, we'll light up this darkened land
In times like these, to each other we cling
In times like these, Love is everything
In times like these, Love is everything
Please share with your friends

1 comment:

Laurie said...

Ah Kip, you won't lose the lessons you've learned over the years. That's what makes you so darn wise. You have to jump and it is scary but to not jump would be to cheat yourself of who you really are. And only in jumping can you explore the depth of what that really means. Don't take a parachute Kip. You'll land just fine without it.

The song is wonderful.....