I don’t believe in perfect I believe in getting better In baseball you can lose 60 games and still be champions … The worst team will win 60 and the best team will lose 60 …it’s what they do with the other 42 that counts… The first 75 percent of the season isn’t as important as the last 25 percent … —— Consider your life Stop putting so much pressure on yourself… Just keep going… —— Every player gets his shot at the plate It doesn’t matter how hard you threw when you were drafted It’s how well you control right now It doesn’t matter how well you hit You have to throw that ball across the plate and give every player his shot … —- That’s life You just keep going You don’t stop Don’t stop You’re going to win some and lose some But it’s what you do after that – that really counts … Get in the box and keep swinging Get on the mound and just throw the best pitch you can… The rest will handle itself … -E
Another Friday night And he’s sitting at the bar again drink at hand If you caught him after Three Six Nine He’d look – is it his eyes or his hands that stop the shakes?? You’d hear him say It’s not the drink he thirsts for It’s a life of purpose Somewhere he feels he lost himself Or his way … Now, She makes her rounds Cigarette in hand She welcomes all the men from the city And there’s a band on stage Reminding you we’re all doing what we can … And there’s the chosen golden few Who smoke or drink outside Believing they are somehow separate and different But between the bars and the chord change They feel their wheels spinning As if to say hometowns and sin are something we all have in common Like the broken artist Writer Poet Bleeding out into his drink To anyone who will listen About a life he could have had If he just had courage And if we just had hearts ——- Now we are rushed on time Trying to get ahead Only downtown it’s already flooded ——- My hands are tied I need to get away To the water To the mountains To a place in mind Where I remember growing up Though the memory isn’t too clear They muddy the water And the water keeps rising I wish for more time And I get sick in the gut From writing the lines Me me me I and I and I What is courage my son But to eat when you are hungry To sleep when you are tired To know the Lord when you are hurting To know the heart is right If the heart is right You don’t have to worry about the rest But the holiness inside of us Somewhere we forgot who we are We don’t build and we don’t repair The old places are in ruins What an opportunity to rebuild
She said I am two different people And she can see between the lines God said the walls are coming down And we are out of time
What is poetry? It is your beginnings … It is understanding…. It is empathy for your brother and sister… Not pity but empathy, a silent understanding and knowing…a shared experience that comes from living… What is poetry? It is your mother handing you a Bible and asking you to go outside and read a psalm and a proverb because you’re in a bad mood… It is the way the dirt, the earth turns to powder (not dust) when chickens have scratched it there… It’s gardens in the summer And carrying buckets of water and fertilizer for the tomatoes and the handles cutting into your hands because they are so heavy… —— Poetry is your beginnings It’s the stories that make us – us It’s the love letters in the beginning And the fights at the end It’s the knowing when love arrives and when love has left the table It’s struggling to make it And it’s finally having enough bread … It’s the food banks It’s telling your story And listening and watching for others story…they are always telling. Poetry is your beginning It’s the courage to continue It’s humanity framed with art It is us. It is you.
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll— Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Horatio Spafford
These words were penned around 1873 Horatio lost his business and a fortune in the Chicago fire of 1871 and his four year old son to scarlet fever … sending his wife and daughters on vacation across the Atlantic thinking it would be good to get away, their ship sank, killing over 200 people including his four daughters… Later passing over the same spot…he penned these words…
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll— Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know It is well, it is well with my soul.”
I want a gospel That tells me It is well, Whatever my lot, It is well, In the good times, It is well when I’m poor, It is well, when I’m anxious and scared… It is well… It is well… Whatever my lot… It is well… Not just on the top of the mountain but down here in the valley In the place I’m in… Peace…peace like a river…
THE ROOTS —————— My son Know that there is More than an app trap Meme game Quick rich scheme —— Stay away from shortcuts to happiness —- You work out your own purpose with struggle and pain … Your own salvation before the lord. There is an old way… Way back … It’s an old gospel An old rugged cross … An old hymn crying out in the wilderness “It is well with my soul.” This gospel got your ancestors through the dust bowl… Through depressions And recessions… They built legacies and futures Living on $10 dollars a week.. Their recipes are still good Their prayers are still good Their faith is still good… This gospel is still good today… —— A gospel that sets the captive free Baptized by fire Filled with the Holy Spirit Changed … Where Samuel said “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”
Pray, pray for your family Your community Your children Pray…
Build up leaders Build a legacy…
And stand
With purpose that you have worked out before the Lord…
Tired of thirst and a life without purpose And men who go missing When Snapchat rings And they leave their wives and children Tired of lives unchanged Tired of being in bondage And depression and self help saying Everything is fine —— Build your life son Pray Be a steward Nurture Craft Create Walk in purpose and strength And stand Stand In freedom Stand And let it be well with your soul
President Kennedy was living daily with so much pain, from his Addison’s disease and colitis, along with back pain from a deteriorating spine and back surgery, that it took over 12 medications and seven injections a day along with a back brace, just to keep him going …
He couldn’t even bend over to put his shoes on…
The fact that he even got out of bed was a miracle …
I often find my self thinking about how he projected youth and vitality and strength and change…
This ability to challenge people to be better…
He refused to wear an overcoat on his Inauguration Day
Needing to project youth and strength…
He understood probably better than any of us the power of images and what they do
And the power of
Media ….
This was before an assassination
And before America lost touch with itself
And lost faith in itself
We know how the story ends
We know all the things that he started
However he is forever fixed in our minds as he worked so hard to be fixed …
Young and filled with hope.
Change is something uncomfortable
Courage, Virtue and faith is something vital to our existence …
As Joan Didion said the center is not holding…
It seems we’ve lost ourselves
And our faith
We don’t trust even our own instinct
From my side of the mountain
After struggling with Crohn’s
Divorce
Moving and changing careers
Getting sober…
I can only say
I’m writing this on the side of new beginnings
And the shadows we fight against
Just within ourselves
The urge to run
To just forget about the cost
To just forget about the thing
To cop out…
The ability to rebuild yourself
To trust yourself
To reach for change
To stay true to your convictions
Is courageous in and of itself
But it is a future worth fighting for
Worth staying for
Worth getting up in the morning for …
So keep your hope
And build
Brick by brick
And line by line
Create a future
And a home
You would like your children to come home to…
Because it’s worth the fight
Even if you hide your shadows and your struggles
Your pain…
You can still build …
It is the courage to continue in the face of everything ….that counts…