Blog 2287 – 01.25.2022

“Waving Through A Window”

I am always in awe of those writers, words, songs, and voices that seem to stir the deep longings of our hearts and express so well the hidden feelings that we often find so difficult to express in our own words. I have written several pieces using songs from the musical Dear Evan Hansen and the always thrilling voice of Ben Platt. When I first heard Ben sing “River” in his Netflix sitcom “The Politician” I knew I wanted to hear anything he had to say or sing.

Artist of every stripe, and we all have an artist streak, have in common that we are all not only watchers at the window but wavers wanting to be seen. In the song “Waving Through A Window” the old question is expressed in slightly different words, “If a tree fell in a forest with no one to see it and hear it fall, would it even make a sound?”

For those of us who have even an inkling of Who and Whose we truly are, the falling tree question is based on a false premise, “the myth of isolation” that there is any place, any time, any where we are ever alone, unobserved, and unloved. One of my favorite phrases in all the Bible is: “God is all in all.” He/She is everywhere and everyone. The singer/songwriter/shepherd boy/king David wrote: “Even if I make my bed in Sheol (the abode of the dead), you are there.” Reminds me of a line Walter Cronkite was famous for: “Today is (insert the date past, present, or future i.e. January 25, 2022) and you are there.”

You and I are never truly alone. A schizophrenic bi-polar friend of mine once had emergency surgery while I was out of town on a work assignment and someone who did not really know her all that well asked if I thought she should go visit my friend in the hospital because she was all alone. I tried to explain to the second person that my friend was never alone, but that she had constant companions with her, like the guy in the movie Beautiful Mind played by Russell Crowe. It begs the question, who is really crazy? I think we all are to some degree, mixed with doses of clarity and sanity.

It is a great step toward sanity, I think, to recognize, that we are seen, heard, and loved always. I try to remind myself of that fact each day as I say aloud my daily mantra:

“My heart and my mind are open,

My arms and my hands are open,

My mouth, nose, ears, and eyes are open

To all the Universe has for me.

Thank you for this day, Spirit.

I am Holy, I am Whole.

I am so glad and grateful that everything I could ever want or need

is already mine and coming to me at just the right time and in just

the right way from my loving and infinite source.

This is the day that the Lord and I have made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart

be acceptable in my sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Whatsoever my hands find to do this day, I shall do with my whole

heart finding purpose in even the most menial of tasks.

I go within.

I mirror you.

I make these and all of my intentions for the good of myself, the

Universe, and everyone, everywhere.

So be it, and it is so.

Ah man and ah woman

Aye men and aye women.”

I am continually adding to my daily mantra and tweaking it to get it right and hopefully seeing clearer picture of all that I observe through my window on life.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

Waving through a window,

David White

“Waving Through a Window” from the DEAR EVAN HANSEN Original Broadway Cast Recording