sing it, girl

i don't typically like to put an overly large quote or piece from someone else in my feeble attempts at writing, because i'm afraid people will see it as just that - long, and stop reading it. and as i was reading this awesome piece written by one of my favorites - gerard kelly - i was trying to pick out just one little fragment of it to put in here so you could catch my drift - but, i feel like cutting out anything is unfair for this awesomeness. i just encourage you to read the whole thing - it's sweet.

now that took a lot more words than i thought it would.

because he is risen,
spring is possible
in all the cold hard places
gripped by winter
and freedom jumps the queue
to take fear’s place
as our focus.
because he is risen.
because he is risen,
my future is an epic novel
where once it was a mere short story.
my contract on life is renewed
in perpetuity.
my options are open-ended;
my travel plans are cosmic.
because he is risen.
because he is risen,
healing is on order and assured
and every disability will bow
before the endless dance of his ability
and my grave too will open
when my life is restored,
for this frail and fragile body
will not be the final word
on my condition.
because he is risen.
because he is risen,
hunger will go begging in the streets
for want of a home
and selfishness will have a shortened shelf-life
and we will throng to the funeral of famine
and dance on the callous grave of war
and poverty will be history
in our history.
because he is risen.
and because he is risen,
a fire burns in my bones
and my eyes see possibilities
and my heart hears hope
like a whisper on the wind
and the song that rises in me
will not be silenced
as life disrupts
this shadowed place of death
like a butterfly under the skin
and death itself
runs terrified to hide.
because he is risen


so i took this spiritual gifts test with all the chicks in small group. and i didn't know what my spiritual gift was - i guess i didn't really feel like i was in the position to decide what my gifts were or not. i was just hoping administration wasn't going to be number one on my list (no offense to you administratives...).

my 'highest' gift was 'encouraging and exhorting'. and i guess i really didn't feel like that should be my highest. because - well, i don't know. it doesn't seem like i do that much encouraging and exhorting. and then i felt bad, because - i think about encouraging people all the time, but i fail to act upon it so much. i silence myself for reasons - so many reasons, and i end up wasting a really awesome gift.

so when i read that part in kelly's poem that says, "and the song that rises in me will not be silenced", i get so excited.

excited for every instance i think of a way to encourage someone, and i don't back down for fear of the unknown.

exctied for every potential moment to belt out my song.