February 9, 2012: Good Stuff...

Thanks to Kristina Wyatt for painting this beautiful picture of Bella, and thanks to Christie Zink for commissioning it.

Heaveno!

Thank you to all of you that commented on Tuesday's post.  It was REALLY great reading your thoughts and feelings on prayer.  What a healthy dialogue.  What else should we talk about?  :-)  Isn't it nice to have a forum where we can share our thoughts on a subject a little deeper than whether Madonna lip synced during the Super Bowl Halftime show?  Seriously, though.  I am so grateful to all of you for making this a community.  I noticed on the stats page that since June 2009 when this blog was set up, we have had 1,021,000+ page views.  Over a million page views.  I can't even wrap my little brain around that.

One of my heroes is Jim Rohn.  He talks about numbers, and that the real power of numbers is the story they tell.

Long ago, after my five best friends were murdered in 1995, I played a song I wrote for them at their funerals.  It was about the beauty of having a place to come home to.  It was called Homeward Bound, and here are the words for your enjoyment:

The friends that I had when I was young

Are from the same little town I am from

Whenever I feel I’ve lost my way

I know they’ll be waiting there for me

That’s why I am homeward bound

The year that I had to leave home

I learned what it means to be alone

I searched around for some glimpse of my friends

But all I had were the memories in my head

I long to be homeward bound

Well a year’s passed and maybe a day

My friends have all gone their own way

I’m far from the land where I was small

But I’ll never forget my friends from home

So now I am homeward bound

I long to be homeward bound

That’s why I am homeward bound

People told me that the song brought peace to their hearts hearing it.  The night of the last funeral, I went to a concert, and for two hours, the music that Steve Morse played on his guitar brought me peace.  Then, I had one of those thoughts again...  

Once you sell a million records, the recording industry says your record has "gone Platinum."

But what do those numbers mean?  

Imagine your record is an hour long.

Imagine everyone who bought it only listened to it once.

Imagine that when they listened, it brought them peace.

You just brought a million hours of peace into existence.

Never mind those who listen more than once.

Never mind those who see you play live.

Never mind those who listen to your song on the radio "just when they needed it."

I had this idea that someday, Sonic Divinity (which at that time I envisioned might be a record label or a non-profit) would give out a "Platinum Peace Award" to artists who had sold a million units of their record, because THAT is really what it is all about.

I've got a long way to go before this blog has brought a million hours of peace into the world, since the average time someone spends on it is between a minute and a half and two minutes, but that means we've (hopefully) brought a million minutes of peace into the world through this little place on the web.

This is why WE ALL matter.  We exert something into the world by us just being in it.  We are not inert.   In 3 years, we've brought about a million minutes of peace, love, and inspiration.  I plan on being able to say the same three years from now.  For many of us, that moment three years from now will come either way, but for some of us, it won't.  

Don't take for granted you'll be here (I don't-trust me).  Live, love, and laugh like this is it.

THIS is it.

this IS it.

this is IT.

Tomorrow doesn't necessarily follow today.  Bella never saw "tomorrow" when she awoke on October 11, 2010.  Tripp didn't see "tomorrow" when he awoke on January 14, 2012.  Learn from us.  Let it rip, whatever it is, and if you're still here three years from now, you'll be able to look back and say, "Wow, I made a difference while I was here."

Isn't that what we all live for ultimately?  To make a difference in some way?  Sadly, I don't think everyone walking this planet is awake to that purpose, but to those of us that are...

MAKE it happen.

God night.