Inspiration

Inspiration

Sometimes I wait on inspiration to write

Sometimes I can’t wait any longer

That’s when it is called “work”

And work it is

Grimacing over every word and idea

Fighting off the demons of criticism and lack

Wishing that the winds would come

Lifting me into the heavens

Where everything is easy and light and free

Or is it?

Could it be that work is where we really find God

Instead of all of those angels

Could it be that in the wrestling

We meet the greatest One of them all

He might cripple us for the rest of our lives

But He just might meet us right in our need

Teach us something new

Give us something bright

Something no one else will ever understand

Nor will we ever want them to

Because it is ours

So keep moving along

Keep writing the words of your living song

You are making a world of difference

And it is very, very beautiful

2/8/17

Dedicated to my wife, Melissa, the hardest working person I’ve ever met.

Snapped Awake

Snapped Awake

I’m sitting at a table

Surrounded by women speaking Greek

I don’t understand a thing

Nor can I get a word in edgewise

Nor would it matter if I could

For I would be so misunderstood

So I begin to drift away

I begin to wander, stray

I like it here in the wilderness

The quiet, the solitude, the stillness

No responsibility to engage

No grand efforts to hold it all together

I have slipped so far into the daydream 

That I don’t even hear when my name is called

I don’t know how long I’ve been here

I don’t know how long I stayed

I think it was the third time or so that my name was called

I suddenly snapped back to the moment

Awake, alert, all senses on guard

Completely ignorant of the conversation

Completely void of any answers to the questions

Completely unaware of what the questions are

I am seemingly stuck in this awkward moment forever

Everyone at the table looking at me

Expecting an answer to the question I didn’t even hear

Maybe I’ll go and find that rock I belong under

Maybe it’s a marble stone

My name, some dates, some times

Some stillness, all stillness

Or maybe I should find the rock I’m supposed to stand upon

And simply let the sunshine bathe my face

This awkward moment will be erased

Just like all the others

Just like every other time

Where I was called upon to not be me