Ice on our Lashes

So, continuing with the precipitation theme of the previous blog...

I wonder how many of you have heard a phrase, a verse or maybe just a word that completely encompasses who you are and how you feel in that moment. Well today I found these:

Oh Annie,
I will think of you everytime I see the sun
Didn't want a day without you
But somehow I've lived through another one

These aren't words from my journal, or a liturgy from her funeral. These are lyrics by Brooke Fraser from her song 'Ice On Her Lashes'. Brooke Fraser as in Annie's favourite singer. This song that mentions her name so explicitly is on the album, whose conception and release date we followed so closely on twitter. This album that was released only days after he death includes a song about 'the cycles of grief' and calls her by name. The whole concept is just to stunning for words.

It's so clear to me that song writing, like literature, like art, is an anointed vocation. There is so much power in words for they will continue to speak for years to come, transcending the generations with their meaning. When I think about this with my God-goggles on I can't help but get excited about how when we put our talents and gifts firmly into God's hand, he just expands them beyond our wildest dreams. Brooke didn't know Annie, she doesn't know me or my friends or the family she left behind. That song was written and recorded in a studio in Australia about a year ago and that same song is overwhelming me now as I sit in the corner of Bristol University Chaplaincy drinking my coffee and trying to read about Italian crime fiction.

Grief can be such a lonely place, sometimes it borders on self-pity and self-indulgence, so when we are reconnected with a community of grievers through song, through words, through prayer and even through silence, God's peace that transcends all understanding filters through the developed toughness of our skin, seeps into our frigid hearts and applies deep heat to that dull ache that we force to lie dormant in our souls. It prepares us for love again.

I'll leave you with the bridge of the song. I hope and pray that it will comfort those of you have lost someone you loved, whether that's through death or through the end of a relationship. Take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one with ice on your lashes.

Did you find it hard to breathe at first?
Were you wounded and in disbelief at how much it hurt?
Now the aches still burning
But the world's still turning isn't it?





3 comments :

  1. Love the verse and lyrics you shared, they are very poignant and true. ♥


    xoxo,
    Addie
    The Cat Hag

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  2. I lost my brother recently and this song has ministered to me greatly... mostly in helping me to cry! It is truly incredible that you lost someone named Annie AND are a Brooke Frasier fan. I am so so happy that God has given you this gift. I can only imagine what the song must mean to you, with Annie's name in it.... when it means so much to me, even without a special name. Blessings. Thanks for the lovely Blog.

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  3. I discovered this song today and i found it incredibly beautiful, but it became even more beautiful after reading your post. Thank you for sharing, greetings from Mexico.

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