On a Dime
Dec 24, 2008 sojourn
I’m supposed to be “on vacation” from work, instead I feel like I’m holding vigil over our now defunct mother ship, previously known as Wachovia. I find it hard to mentally detach from all the uncertainty, the disheveled pile of work that waits for my return, and the prospect of being pulled away from the shoreline of dreams I have in sight.
WHAH!
Thank God for the mercy and grace of a new day! I’m sipping a second cup of coffee after a real good night’s sleep in a warm house and it’s Christmas Eve. The kids are giddy with excitement, it’s time to wrap some presents, put them under the tree, and lay down my burdens. So I pick up my guitar, play through “Christmas Song”, and voila I’m somewhere else. My mood and demeanor, and my all important outlook for today, changed in a few moments by playing and singing perhaps one of the most well crafted, and certainly timeless, songs ever written.
Of course, there are literally thousands of means of distraction and escapism, those we choose depend on who we are. Some engulf so deeply they have the potential to change a persona, and not always for the better. But how many of these mechanisms have the power to turn a heart on a dime like music and song? How many of us put on that favorite record, CD or MP3 to remind us of a better day, accompany tears of despair or incite a dance of joy?
I choose to look forward today, to the coming year, with its challenges and possibilities. The songs I’ll write and sing, the notes I’ll get to play for others. I look forward to the inspiration I’ll sponge from other writers, composers and artists, not just in song or score, but on canvas, paperback or digital shades of gray.
Sometimes the river of life overruns its banks and covers yesterday’s pathways. Could be time for change I could not have expected or to persevere situations I’ll never understand. I just need to remember — love’s light shines into the heart, whether I choose to let it shine through is up to me. Sometimes all it takes is a simple turn of the soul’s prism for this light to be visible and reflected to others, and that simple things in life can inspire such a turn.
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