A Jeep In Summer

Salt Water

Like me, Amy Grant loves the ocean.

"Salt water is the greatest component of our world, yet some people have never seen an ocean. That doesn't change the ocean. It is constant and powerful, and like the love of God, whether we're immersed in it, standing on the shore, or a thousand miles away, it remains."

I wish I was walking on a beach right now. Got a ton of thoughts to sort out, not just from six crazy weeks of teaching in New Orleans and being excited and scared about what's coming next, but from other things...and email.

Email--I tell ya, sometimes it brings great news and sometimes it brings awful news. Today a friend emailed me about how his life has been shattered. His heart has been absolutely broken. I just broke down at my desk and wailed a little bit, settled down for some quieter crying, and the tears (salt water...) have been showing up through the rest of the day. Today, for him, looks dark, if not absolutely black. But I believe that the love of God is still there, even if I'm not standing on the shore. Even if my friend isn't standing standing on the shore.

The dark days, the ones that are bleak and black, "add depth to every other experience. Like the dark bits of color in a mosaic, they add the contrast and shadows that give beauty to the whole, but they are just a small part of the big picture."

I know that when you're up at 3 am, staring at the awful mess you've made or the awful mess you've been handed or that you've landed in, it doesn't help to know that it will pass and you'll be a better person. But that's how life works. This too shall pass. "Nothing is wasted in life. Grief and pain enlarge our capacity for compassion and perseverance."

And oh my friend, I wish I could help. But there's nothing I can do for you. Except to say, "I love you, I miss your hugs and laughter, I miss sitting on the porch with you, I will pray for you, I will walk with you in any way I can."

Amy Grant's book Mosaic is a collection of stories about her life, music, children, being found by God, getting older, prayer, chance encounters, and relationships. It's been good to read it and get to know her a little better, and to understand where some of the songs, songs that have been good friends to me, came from.

And there's a couple of great laughs too. Amy writes about going through a fast food drive through with her kids:

"Finally everyone but Corrina had ordered. I was out of patience as I locked eyes with my silent two-year-old in the rearview mirror. With deliberate calm I said, 'Corrina, what do you want? If you don't say something right now, you're getting a cheeseburger and fries.

All this time she'd been rubbing her thumb and fingertips together. Suddenly she stopped and pointed both index fingers at my reflection in the rearview mirror and said, 'I'll take the money.'"

All of this entry's quotes are from Mosaic.

Posted by mike at October 18, 2007 07:33 PM