Southern Cross

I have my ship
And all her flags are a flyin'
She is all that I have left
And Music is her name.

Teaching is, by nature, a reflective profession. Educators are constantly assessing what they could do better, differently, to reach the student who still doesn't get it. Or maybe the student who does get it, but you want to push to an even higher level of understanding. We are always thinking about what we do...who we are....

I was at a concert last week with my Baby Girl. Sugarland. One of our favorites. I was in the arena with some 13,000 people watching the warm-up bands. Watching the crowd. They had arms in the air, swaying back and forth, totally enraptured in the music. And it reminded me of a religious revival...people with eyes closed, faces upturned, arms raised, basking in the inspiration of the Music and the Word. And I realized in that moment, that Music is my inspiration, my Gospel, my Word. It always has been. It is no accident that my writing, all through the years, has been laced with song lyrics.

I have been watching a friendship of mine move further and further away as she has become more and more involved with her church. It has become her social life, the only thread of her conversation, and harder and harder for us to find common ground. I am happy that she finds solace and social connections in her church. But it leaves little common ground any more in our friendship and I feel more and more distant from her.

Everyone should find inspiration somewhere. A lot of people find it in the unspoken beauty of nature. Others find it in the service they give. Many find it in their faith. For me, inspiration will always be in two things... The possibility of what can be. And Music.

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small.
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day.

She is all that I have left
And Music is her name.