Mama Monday #49

Katherine shared this post about Neal's new song that came out on May 9th, and I listened to it after my night run (in the wee hours of Saturday morning) and was in tears. It's such a beautiful song, and it seems perfect for this week ahead with Anna's graduation that we get to celebrate together. Like Jen Hatmaker said in her Mother's Day post, "Where in God's earth did 22 years go?" 

https://youtu.be/TdegOeGY__c?si=XXZ-X1fIMZwQvOfg

This Holy Moment 

we ran outside to catch the colors of the sunset 

to drink it in like it's communion wine 

we put our feet in the mountain stream beside us 

filled up both our souls from deep inside 

my arm around my daughter 

we were speaking without saying 

so close that in the stillness she must have heard me praying 

keep me right here Lord in this holy moment 

hands full of heaven and eyes full of wonder

 knowing I can let go and not worry where time is going 

so keep me right here Lord in this holy moment now 

in this holy moment now 

we waited in and drifted out to deeper waters 

talked and laughed like we always did 

I was just a son and he was just my father 

these moments are the easy ones to miss

and somehow we both knew

cause love goes without saying surrender to the praying 

keep me right here Lord in this holy moment 

hands full of heaven and eyes full of wonder

knowing I can let go and not worry where time is going 

so keep me right here in this holy moment now

 in this holy moment now

if every raindrop contains the entire ocean 

forever is right here it is too big to hold it 

i can't tell where we end and the glory begins cause the space

between us is far too thin 

keep me right here Lord in this holy moment 

hands full of heaven and eyes full of wonder 

knowing I can let go and not worry where time is going

so keep me right here Lord in this holy moment now

in this holy moment now

in this holy moment now

From Neal's Instagram post this weekend: 

"New song! This Holy Moment was inspired by this video I found on my phone I took the last time I ever swam in the ocean with my dad.

Death is awful and not the way things are supposed to be. I am grateful, however, that I had the mercy of knowing what was ahead for my dad and tried to document as many beautiful moments as I could during those two years before he passed away. I wish I could treat every moment of life like I treated these. I know I want to.

My dad’s favorite place to talk and catch up with me was in the ocean. It was a beach trip ritual and something we did many times over the years.

This particular moment my parents were swimming and laughing and as I filmed them suddenly my dad said he couldn’t touch the bottom any longer. He was starting to drift out a bit and my mom was feeling concerned. My dad, however wasn’t concerned at all. He was in for whatever was happening.

At the same time I knew this would likely be the last time I ever swam in the ocean with my dad and that he was slowly slipping away. Slipping away from this life and me, while drifting into a vast, deep ocean of God’s love and goodness." 

Check this out to see the video of his dad swimming in the ocean 

https://www.nealcarpenter.net/

This is my prayer for us in the coming days: 

"keep me right here Lord in this holy moment 

hands full of heaven and eyes full of wonder

 knowing I can let go and not worry where time is going 

so keep me right here Lord in this holy moment now 

in this holy moment now"

And here's the email I wrote to Neal on Saturday night: 

Dear Neal, 

Your dear wife posted your new song on social media on her story. I am not very active on Facebook or Instagram at this point in my life, but I did see this post and I listened to your song late last night. 

I'm running in a Ragnar race this weekend near Zion National Park (a crazy relay of about 120 miles split up between about 8 people in a period of about 24 hours), and I listened to your song after my night run getting back to the house well after midnight last night. I listened and wept. 

Your timing is uncanny for putting this song into the world and into our lives.  This week marks so many things..... Mother's Day where you and Katherine will be grieving Jan.   And also, this week marks Anna's graduation from college. How in the world are we already here? We leave on Thursday and will celebrate her with family this weekend. Your song reminds me of Andrew Peterson's Centering Prayer song as I have been challenged to "be where my feet are." And it reminded me of this time that stood still for me, Anna, and Jason last year when we took her to her program to study abroad in South America. Before her program started, the three of us did a hike for 5 days in Patagonia. We went to a lookout for a glacier and had one of the holiest moments we have ever all shared together. We were all awestruck seeing God's wonder together, and we found ourselves in tears together. It's hard to describe, but the words from Ted Loder below help to capture some of it: 

Listen to my blinking eyes,

for at certain moments

when sunlight strikes just right,

or stars pierce the darkness just enough,

or clouds roll around just so,

or snow kisses the world into quietness,

everything is suddenly transparent…

and something in me is pure enough

for an instant

to see your kingdom in a glance,

and so to praise you in a gasp-

quick,

then gone,

but it is enough.

-       Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you so much for this song. It will be on repeat for me this week and beyond. What a blessing it is to us. 

Thank you for sharing your gifts and being such a blessing in our lives and in the world. 

So much love, 

Emily 

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And Neal's response: 

Emily!

Wow. This is overwhelming in the best way. Amazing photos. That Ted Loder poem really says it all. I'll have to check him out. I am humbled by your words and thrilled this song has connected with your soul in such a way as to merit a response like this. I am so grateful for this song and the opportunity to keep making music. Stay tuned! 

Hello to Jason, Anna, and Taylor!

Peace of Christ to you!

Neal