advent journal: are you

I’ve spent another hour or two this evening sitting my writing spot in our house trying to find words to all that is swirling around inside. For a fair part of the time I have been listening to some of the songs that make up the soundtrack of my life. Similar to last night, I found myself landing on an old song I wrote with my friend Billy about what it means to be friends, one of our recurring themes. The opening verse of the song was a snapshot of our first meeting at a youth camp in the Ozark mountains where we did sit at the top of the cliff outside the dining hall and look down into the canyon at the river below. More than twenty years later, the question in the song pulls at me still.

put on the coffee

and I’ll tell you a memory

we stood on the edge of time

as the river flowed silently by

we looked up at the stars

I still remember

and talked of what your life could be

you’re an old friend

so won’t you tell me



are you as sure of the dream

that you had on the way

finding enough of the truth

at the end of the day

caught now and then

by something like grace are you

are you still keeping a light on inside

shimmer of hope against the tide

finding that life is worth the ride

tell me — are you



remember the summer

we told one another

how we could change this world of ours

and quoted our heroes by heart

but here in this moment

we watch the way the river bends

you’re an old friend

I’m going to ask you again . . .



are you as sure of the dream

that you had on the way

finding enough of the truth

at the end of the day

caught now and then

by something like grace are you

are you still keeping a light on inside

shimmer of hope against the tide

finding that life is worth the ride

tell me — are you

Thanks for listening. Keep the light on.

Peace,

Milton