I Bind My Life to Love......

one of my favourite prayers!

I  bind my life to Love

Merry Christmas everyone.

I bind my mind to Love

I bind my heart to Love

I bind my feet to the path that Love has for me        

I bind my life to Love

I bind my mind to Love

I bind my heart to Love

I open my hands to receive Love’s gifts

I bind my life to Love 

I bind my mind to Love

I bind my heart to Love

I open my life to let Love flow through

I bind my life to Love

Love speaks and says to me

Arise, and Come with me

Winter is over and gone

And the time for singing has come

Yes the time for singing has come

copyright 2009 Cathy AJ Hardy

Courage

photography www.rastudio.ca

Courage......

As I read through an old journal

from 12 years ago

I found this prayer

'I ask for courage...

I ask for courage...'

I was in a time of deep distress

and facing my day to day life was not what I wanted to face

It takes courage to face the realities that lie before us

to really see things as they are

and not lose hope

Courage

has meant for me

to stay awake

to life

to keep my eyes open

and to stay present

and engaged.

Courage

has meant for me

to listen deeply 

to my soul

and to not be afraid 

to live from 

the truth of who I am

not to please others

but to respond

to the life

I have been 

given.

Courage

has meant for me

to listen to the dreams

of my heart

and to take risks

in pursuing 

the light 

of these dreams.

Courage

has meant for me

to trust

in friendships

to reveal the

fragility of my heart

to another

to risk being misunderstood

or unloved.

Courage

has felt so 

beyond me

so many times.

It has felt like a gift

that comes when I am broken

and weak.

I feel my humanity

I feel my vulnerability

and yet I want to say

yes 

to Life

So I pray

Give me courage

Give me courage

and in the words of this song.....

"Love strengthens me

and gives me

courage

for today"

Every Time......

photography by revival arts

rastudio.ca

I found this old song in the stacks of my choral music

 in my studio sometime last year.

I immediately felt my toes start tapping and the rhythm captivated me.

However, the words were old were filled with  fairly negative descriptions of the

 devil coming to catch us all.

so........I thought, why not rework this baby.

and I did with a lot of fun.

Sharing this song in many different concert situations has been a gift.....

and what it brings is - joy.

simple joy.

tapping foot joy.

humming along joy.

I think we often forget simple pleasures these days.

We have forgotten the joy of singing with each other

and experiencing music in community.

this is also a song about freedom.

And every time I sing this, it reminds me....

sister, you are free.

No matter what my circumstances - there is an inner freedom

to still choose

Choose YES

Choose LIFE

Choose LOVE

Choose LIGHT

Freedom

and we will continue singing

This past Tuesday night my daughter Brianna woke me up at 3am.  She had just received a call from her very close friend Savannah letting her know that Savannah's boyfriend and Brianna's good friend Marco had died.  Marco was the young man who died in the boating accident in the interior of BC, which has received a lot of news coverage this week.  He graduated this past June with Brianna and Savannah and received a full scholarship to the University of the Fraser Valley.  He was an amazing musician and a fun-loving personality.  I had the joy of having Marco play with me this summer at the Mission Folk Festival.  I had asked him what he was going to wear for our gig and he asked me what he should wear?  I said - just be yourself.  So, he got excited and decided to wear his hair in a Mohawk...what fun.  Marco was a great person to be around, relaxed, funny and easy to talk to - no matter what age you were.

As many of you know, the song Love Shines played a powerful role when my nephew Christian died just over one year ago.  I was about to record Love Shines as a sing when Chris died.  I didn't know how I could record this song - how could I sing about love shining?  So, I cancelled the recording.  But then I thought about Chris and his life and how he would have been so mad at me for cancelling doing something that I loved.  And I looked into the face of my brother and his wife - and I realized I did see love shining - in them.  And so I recorded that song and gave it all I had.  And then I sang it for the 1500 people that came to Chris's funeral.

Marco did not know any of this to my knowledge.  But Love Shines was one of the songs I had sent him to practice for our set at the Mission Folk Festival.  On the night that he died, his mom went to his laptop and opened it up.  What was on the screen was the lyrics/chord chart for Love Shines.  It was the last thing that Marco looked at on his computer and what his mom found in that horrible moment.

I am overwhelmed how this song came to this family in the middle of such utter agony.  Marco's memorial will be a concert at Heritage Park next Sunday at 2pm.  There are many musicians coming to honour Marco and his memory.  Marco's mom has asked me to sing Love Shines.
Love does shine in our deepest darkness.
Love shines in moments we cannot comprehend.
Love shines beyond our agony.
Love shines.
Marco - I will sing for you.
Chris - I will sing for you.