Beautiful Words

"We are a story, slowly unfolding...beautiful words"

One of the advantages of my job is that I get to write off-site two days a week. It's a wonderful gift. Occasionally I go to Panera Bread, but my favorite moments of creating are spent at my kitchen table. In that time, what is my greatest inspiration as I type away? Music. (And I play it rather loudly when I'm alone.)

This week, a song I heard on Tuesday hasn't left me. I've been humming it as I compose day after day on the blank page. And it's appropriate because it is about words.

Here are the lyrics to the first verse and chorus:

Slow down
This is such a blur
Tell me what's the hurry now
Have we been running round in circles
Missing all that we could be
You say it's not too late

[Chorus:]
We are words
On pages that we've left unturned
An ending no one's ever heard
We are a story slowly unfolding
Beautiful words

- "Beautiful Words" by The Afters

Slow down. Missing all that we could be. It's not too late. We are a story. I don't know about you, but I usually want now. No slow unfolding. But that is not how our Creator works. His story unfolded over centuries. Our stories will have a century, at best. But how amazing to realize that our story unfolds within His.

Life naturally brings numerous examples of this: marriage, children growing at a rate that seems like an inch a day, the tomato plants a co-worker gave me yesterday, composing a lesson and corresponding audio script about David and Goliath.

So, as I continue on my writing journey this morning and prepare to step into this long weekend, I will rest in the unturned pages God has numbered for me and take joy in the single words coming forth in the next few days. I will probably rip some paper to create some art journaling pages and dance barefoot in the living room with my girls. I'll also sit next to my beloved as we venture into the mountains. Slowing down....

Beautiful words.