sometimes i feel like a sparrow

sometimes i feel like a sparrow sold for a penny or two
cause the road i travel was cleared by a fool
and a thief and a charmer they wrote the rules
sometimes i feel like a sparrow

sometimes i feel like a whore who will sell it all for cheap
if it's all that i got cause a girl's got to eat
well, it ain't what i want, but it's all that i see
sometimes i feel like a whore

so, tell me, tell me where do i go
when i'm homesick for the place that never felt like home
now, tell me, tell me where do i go
when i'm lonesome for the arms that left me alone

sometimes i feel like a burden to everyone that i know
and if i could float away i'd come back like snow
well, it ain't all the time, but it's more than you know
sometimes i feel like a burden

sometimes i feel like an anchor on a boat trying to sail away
well, if you could pull me up we could find a better day
well, i swear to you i'm trying to find my way
but sometimes i feel like an anchor

so, tell me, tell me where do i go
when i'm homesick for the place that never felt like home
and tell me, tell me where do i go
when i'm lonesome for the arms that left me alone

cause sometimes i feel like a sparrow sold for a penny or two
cause the road i travel was cleared by a fool
and a theif and a charmer they wrote the rules

sometimes i feel like a sparrow
sometimes i feel like a sparrow
sometimes i feel like a sparrow

lyrics by: kelley mcrae http://www.kelleymcrae.com/

...what ought to be...

we look around at what is...we scan the horizon for the faint glimmer of sunrise...but even in the morning light, through the mist we see it...the utter devastation...the waywardness...the fallen...the heartbreak...the failures...the lies...the corruption...the wars...the violence...the abuse...the pain...we see it in the ravaged land...in the ravaged bodies...the ravaged souls...in the weary, hollow eyes...in the slumped shoulders and the mask of much-too-happy-ness...and we choose...

we choose to see only what is or we choose to see what ought to be...and if we choose to see what ought to be, we choose to be responsible to do something about it...it is not enough to complain about it...it is not enough to have an opinion...we must roll up our sleeves, wade into the muck and mire of what is and begin to create or recreate what ought to be...

this is the work of redemption...it is not pretty...it is not glamorous...and in the midst of it, there are rarely accolades...

yes, it can be thankless work...but it is vital...to bring hope...to bring love...to bring grace...to bring peace, healing and wholeness...out of the hopeless, the unlovely, the unloved...out of the ingracious...out of the battles...out of the wars...out of the sickness of mind, body and soul...

so tell me...do you see it? what ought to be? now roll up your sleeves and get to work making it right...

...man in the parking lot...

(cont from facebook)...and as he walked on i found myself wondering if jesus was kinda like that...just making everybody feel better about life when he walked by...just oozing love and peace and contentment and grace...his heart spillin' out all over everyone he met...

...for the most part, people like that make us feel valued...they make us feel happy...they ease a burden deep within us, that sometimes we don't even know we're luggin' around 'til someone that free comes along and shows us what it really means to live free...

...i think for some people, it makes them uncomfortable...mad, even...cause when you are not free and you're resigned to rattle those chains...you've given up and crawled into a dark corner and pulled the shadows close like a blanket...scared of freedom...scared of happiness...cause it's been so unknown...

...wherever you are in it...i hope you'll think about the man i saw in the parking lot...and i hope, like me, you will determine to be a little more like him...and for me, i think about the jesus i know who was just love...right there, living, breathing, walking around love...not religion...not "church"...LOVE in the flesh...and i hope i can be more like him, too...

...sending a huge hug and lots of love...thanks for reading...