Wearing Hope

[photo courtesy of Plumb]

Wearing Hope

Don’t know

What you need

Where you are

In your journey

What all you’ve seen

I don’t know

If your glad

To have gone

Everywhere

You went

Thus far

Or terrified

That someone will

Find out

You came from there

But you should

Know

No matter

What you’ve seen

Where you’ve been

What’s been done

Or the scars

It’s left behind

I’m still here

I needed help too

Why else would

I wear

Hope

Among other things

On my arm

So you can see

That it works

A bit like this

I get help

I begin to heal

So I can be a catalyst

For healing

You

So you get healing

So you can be

A catalyst

For healing

Someone else

A few people

Touching a few people

Changing the world

One person

At a time

by b.e. noll

 

It can be amazing where inspiration can come from. A conversation, song, interview, movie trailer, tv show, twitter, facebook… This comes from a photo & a comment on facebook. [I honestly didn’t think Plumb would message me back. She doesn’t know me from Adam & Eve’s house cat. Anyway…]

Plumb posted this & mentioned that she might wear this for the whole of her current tour [winterjam 2013]. A bracelet with the word hope on it. Something in this stuck with me. So I began to think on this. This idea of “wearing hope”. Maybe it makes me think of To Write Love On Her Arms. I'm not sure. Wearing hope just has a ...logic to it. A sanity in the midst of chaos. A safe harbor, in the midst of pain we haven't yet healed from. A chance to gain something we can somehow both hold onto...& give away. Maybe it's that somehow wearing hope, love, mercy, kindness, grace could become a way to spread these things everywhere we go. Showing people these things are more than concepts we talk about. Subjects we speak of in church. That maybe by wearing hope we can carry it... like a first aide kit. A salve. To help wounds to at least become scars. Scars are wounds that have healed somewhat. The scars don't always go away. At least they don't bleed anymore. I've been blessed. So many of my wounds healed without permanent scars. At least without physical ones. Though I do have some. As I type I think of one of my fingers. I shattered the tip of it. The scar is still there. While I couldn't feel it for many years, feeling has been restored over time. 
It's been nice, for me, to share here some of my wounds, my scars. I hope that I share more hope than darkness. I guess I also feel that hope is contagious. So I'd like hope to "run a muck", to run free in the streets. Perhaps to end up, being worn... on more than one arm. Kind of like the To Write Love On Her Arms shirts. Starting in Florida... & stretching across the planet...
[Plumb, thanks again for the use of the photo. And for your songs. Enjoy the tour!]
May His grace drip from your fingers,
B

Well, I won't be posting for the next few days. I have a long day tomorrow. Leave my Sister-in-law's house @ 4:30am. To drop 2 of them off @ BWI. Then I'm straight back here & to work, till 12 hours later. Don't think I'll have anything inspiring to say after that. So maybe Thurs. I'll post again. Not quite sure what's next here...