Ed Sheeran - When My Hands Let Go - (Heartbreaking Gospel Ballad)

I've been running from the silence

hiding the noise I know

Every smile a quiet lie

Every step too far to go

I tried to carry every burden

Built my walls too high too wide

But even stone begins to crumble

When you're out of places to hide

And I thought I had the answers

But I'm just tied and torn

Now I'm kneeling in the wreckage

Wishing I was never born

When my hands let go

You still held me

When my flame burned out

You never left me cold

And every piece I broke

You mended slowly

When I couldn't love myself

you love my soul

I saw Grace inside the shadows

where the world had turn away

You whispered truth into my sorrow

And I heard it when I prayed

So I'm giving up the battles

That were never mine to fight

And I'm trading all my darkness 

for the warmth inside your light

I've been wrong a million moments

But your mercy stays the same

Even though I curse the heavens

You still call me by my name

When my hands let go

You still held me

When my flame burned out

You never left me cold

And every piece I broke

You mended slowly

When I couldn't love myself

you love my soul

So I'll sing through the heartbreak

and I'll praise through the tears

You are there in the silence

You are there through the years

When my hands let go

You still held me

When my faith ran dry

You poured more love untold

When I lost the fight

You stood beside me

When I couldn't love myself

you love my soul

Not in weakness — but in wisdom.

 

Sandra Bullock once said:

“There are moments when I feel the urge to respond.

To give back every insult.

To return every harsh look, every cruel word.

But then — I stop.

I watch.

I see more than anger.

I see pain.

I see stories behind their eyes.

Silent struggles I’ll never fully know.

And I realize —

Life has already been hard on them.

The world has punished them in ways I don’t need to.

Not every battle needs words.

Some are best met with stillness.

Because people give what they carry.

And if they carry hurt — they’ll hand out hurt.

But I don’t have to take it.

I don’t have to pass it on.

I choose not to echo their pain.

I choose not to become what wounded them.

I move on.

Not in weakness — but in wisdom.

Don’t reflect someone else’s shadow.

Be the window where your light shines through.

Source: Facebook - Your Minds

ai art by me

The Small Bright Thing

The Small Bright Thing

Some days, the sky forgets its color,
and the coffee goes cold before you sit down.
The news hums in the background,
and the world feels too loud.
But still,
there’s a daisy growing in the crack of the sidewalk.
A sparrow shaking rain off its wings.
A stranger holding the door a moment longer
than they needed to.
Not every day sings.
But every day offers something,
even if you have to kneel down,
tilt your head,
and listen very closely
for the small bright thing

that waited just for you.

Source: Facebook - Rivers in the Ocean - Juliette Crane

Take him! Please, take him!

 

“Take him! Please, take him!”

The boy — maybe eight years old — held out a frightened kitten toward passing strangers.

A woman coming out of a neighborhood produce store shook her head.

“He’s really well-behaved,” the boy pleaded, hugging the tiny fluffball to his chest.

The kitten let out the softest meow.

At that sound, a man walking by turned his head — but when his eyes met the boy’s, he just quickened his pace and gestured helplessly.

“He’s so loving… please, you need him,” the boy tried again.

“Is he yours?” came a sudden voice behind him.

A girl with long braids stood there, her eyes locked on the kitten.

“Yes… he’s mine,” the boy whispered. “But I have to let him go. He needs a home.”

“He’s so cute!” the girl reached her hand to pet the tiny creature.

A woman appeared next to her out of nowhere.

“Don’t touch it!” she snapped, yanking her daughter’s arm.

“Mom, I want him! He’s my kitten! I really, really need him!”

“No, you don’t,” the mother cut her off sharply and dragged the tearful girl toward their car.

The kitten looked straight into the boy’s eyes and suddenly said,

“Listen… keep me for yourself.”

“I can’t,” the boy sighed. “We angels… we can’t keep happiness. We only deliver it.”

“So I’m happiness? You’ll just give me away to anyone?”

“I offer you to the ones who need you most. But people don’t always understand. They turn away.”

“But they turned me away… and I’m just a little kitten.”

“The woman outside the store turned down her family’s happiness. If she had taken you, a man would have stopped to help her carry you home. And one day, he would have become her husband.

The man who walked past? He rejected the happiness of reconnecting with his daughter — things between them are strained. If he’d taken you, caring for you together would have melted the ice in their hearts.

“And the little girl? She wanted me. Her mom just wouldn’t let her.”

“Yes, the girl needed you. If she had been allowed to take you, she would have learned to care for you, to be patient as you grew. And next year, when she gets a baby brother, she would have poured all that care into him. That would have been happiness too — happiness of nurturing and helping.”

“So they all turned away from their happiness… how will they live without it?”

“I’ll try again. Later. In a different way. That’s our job — to offer happiness. But the choice is always theirs.”

The kitten let out a tiny sigh and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t scared anymore.

He knew now — he was someone’s happiness.

Source: Facebook - Lullaby for the Soul

Oh Death

   Oh death, oh death
   Won’t you spare me over til another year

Well what is this that I can’t see With ice cold hands taking hold of me
Well I am death none can excel I’ll open the door to heaven or hell

Whoa death someone would pray Could you wait to call me til another day
The children pray the preacher preached Time and mercy is out of your reach

I’ll fix your feet til you can’t walk I’ll lock your jaw til you can’t talk
I’ll close your eyes so you can’t see This very hour come and go with me

In death I come to take the soul Leave the body and leave it cold
To drop the flesh off of the frame The earth and worms both have a claim

   Oh death, oh death
   Won’t you spare me over til another year

My mother came to my bed Place a cold towel upon my head
My head is warm my feet are cold Death is a movin upon my soul

Oh death how you’re treatin me You close my eyes so I can’t see
Well you’re hurtin my body you make me cold You run my life right out of my soul

Oh death please consider my age Please don’t take me at this stage
My wealth is all at your command If you’ll remove your icy hands

Oh the young the rich or poor All alike to me you know
No wealth no land no silver or gold Nothin satisfies my but your soul

   Oh death, oh death
   Won’t you spare me over til another year
   Won’t you spare me over til another year
   Won’t you spare me over til another year

You only get one mom.

 

The way you treat your mom is the way life will treat you.

A mom is the source of love and life itself.

She’s made of a kind of unconditional love no one else will ever be able to give you.

Don’t judge her.

How many times have you sat down next to her just to really listen?

To ask about her past — not the stories she always tells, but the ones she’s kept buried?

Maybe she’s never told you about the hard life she lived before you were born.

Maybe she’s never shared the pain she still carries.

The wounds that quietly reopen every time she remembers…

The struggles of a childhood and youth that weren’t easy.

Times when no one listened.

When she was humiliated.

When cruel words, poverty, fear, and mistreatment left scars she still feels.

How much does she hold inside her heart, never telling you —

just so she wouldn’t shatter the picture you have of her life?

She stayed silent out of love.

Or maybe because silence became her only safe place from the pain.

Treat her gently — like the greatest treasure you’ll ever have.

That tenderness will bring blessings, peace, joy, stability, and long years of life to you.

And the people closest to you will treat you better, too —

because every single day, they’ll be learning from you.

Learning from the love you show to those around you.

Because there’s one truth you can’t ignore:

You only get one mom.

Source: Facebook - Lullaby for the Soul

good...

 

Source: Facebook - Donna Ashworth

Eagles - Take It To The Limit (Live 1977) (Official Video) [4K]

Disturbed - Don't Tell Me (feat. Ann Wilson) [Official Music Video]

Angel Band // Living Room Session

The Old Church Yard

David Gilmour - Between Two Points (with Romany Gilmour)

The value of your love...

 

Let them keep what they took from you ... 

If you gave them love and they walked away, let them keep it.

If you gave them time and they walked away, let them keep the memories.

If you gave them days, weeks, or even years of your life, let them keep all the love you gave them during that time.

Don't fight back. Don't say, 'You owe me'. Understand that the value of your love doesn't depend on what others do with that love.

Let them keep what they took. They must have needed it.

It must have impacted their lives. You can't take that away.

How beautiful is that? 

Even though they gave you pain in return for your love, you still left them with love.

By beloved author, Najwa Zebian 

ArtCredit| The painting, called "Donna Rouge", is associated with Alessandro Baricc. Im not sure if it is his original work.

Source; Facebook - A Friend

Accountability

 

Refusing to talk to someone you owe an apology isn’t “protecting your peace.”

It’s avoiding accountability.

Plain and simple.

You don’t get to hurt someone, walk away, and then wrap it up in a bow labeled “boundaries.”

That’s not healing.

That’s hiding.

Growth means admitting when you were wrong.

It means facing the discomfort, not ghosting the person you hurt just because it’s easier.

“Protecting your peace” has become a trendy excuse to avoid doing the hard, emotional work.

But real peace? It comes from making things right.

Not pretending the wreckage doesn’t exist.

If you caused harm, step up.

Apologize. Repair. Learn.

Then you can protect your peace with a clean conscience.

Because silence doesn’t heal wounds you created.

Accountability does.

Momming On Empty

Source: Facebook - Momming On Empty

Letting go

Forgiveness isn’t always about setting someone free—it’s often about setting yourself free.

I read somewhere, ‘You keep forgiving someone until you unlove them.’ And I felt that. Because when you love deeply, you want to believe in the best of someone, even when they keep showing you their worst. So you forgive. Again and again. Not because they deserve it, but because a part of you isn’t ready to let go.

But something happens over time. Each forgiveness chips away at the illusion. Every disappointment brings clarity. And one day, without realizing it, you wake up and the love that once felt unshakable has faded. Not out of bitterness, not out of anger—but out of exhaustion.

This is how some of us let go. Not in one sudden act, but in a slow unraveling, in the quiet realization that love should not have to hurt this much.

If you’re in this place, know this: Forgiveness does not mean you have to stay. It does not mean you have to keep the door open. It does not mean you have to keep setting yourself on fire to keep someone else warm.

Some love stories don’t end with fireworks—they end with a sigh of relief. And that’s okay. Letting go is its own kind of love—the kind that finally includes yourself. 

 Ella

Source: Facebook - Rebel Thriver

Mister Romantic - What'll I Do?

Betrayal

Never trust anyone who is friends with your enemy. That’s not loyalty, that’s betrayal disguised as neutrality. Anyone who genuinely cares about you would never find comfort in the company of someone who disrespected you, hurt you, lied about you, or tried to break you. Friendships built with your enemies are silent declarations of where their loyalty truly lies. If they can laugh with the same people who plotted against you, then believe me—they were never really standing with you. People like that don't bring peace; they bring confusion, mixed signals, and drama masked as diplomacy.

Real loyalty doesn’t need to be questioned. It shows up in silence, in absence, and in presence. It shows up when someone refuses to associate with those who once tried to tear you down. Because anyone who respects you, protects your name behind your back. They don’t get close to the people who wanted to see you fail and then pretend they’re still your friend. Pay attention. Sometimes the snake isn’t the one who bit you—it’s the one who handed them the opportunity and smiled while they did it.

Credit to the artist via Pinterest

Source: Facebook - My Endless Love

Stanley Brothers, The Rank Stranger

I’m okay being alone now.

 

I’m okay being alone now.

I’ve learned that peace isn’t given—it’s built. Protected. Earned.

Too many people entered my life like guests in a home they never intended to clean after themselves. Some looked soft. Spoke sweet. But left broken pieces behind anyway.

I gave access too easily—like it didn’t cost me anything.

But it did. It cost time . Trust . Energy .

They took more than they ever returned.

And I cleaned up their mess alone. Again and again.

Now?

Now I don’t open doors just because someone knocks.

I wait. I watch. I listen.

Solitude no longer feels cold—it feels sacred. A place where I finally feel full. Where I sit with myself and know, deeply, that I don’t need chaos disguised as connection.

You want a seat at my table?

Bring consistency. Bring truth. Bring something real in your hands—not just promises you won’t keep.

Because this peace?

It’s mine.

And I will burn every bridge before I let anyone take it from me.

Source: Facebook - Shattered Emotions

No, this isn’t about weakness.

 

No, this isn’t about weakness.

Someday these tears in your eyes won’t feel like bullets loaded into the chamber of a gun anymore. They will feel like delicate blue eggs trembling right before they hatch.

Someday tears of yours will smell like sweet vanilla french toast on the griddle.

Someday your tears will be a salty waterfall of all of the sunshine and all of the thunder and all of the courage and all of the grace and all of the redemption that has ever existed in your story.

Someday your tears will form rosary beads between your fingers and saints of old will line up to help you count your prayers.

Someday scientists will study your tears under microscopes to observe the unmistakable DNA of how you survived the dark night hidden inside of them.

Someday you won’t hold back your tears anymore and you will become a fountain of raw human authenticity that dreamers will throw coins in.

Someday a tear is going to slide off the slope of your nose down onto the soil beneath your bare toes - and if you stand really still, an hour later you will be planted in the middle of a rosebush.

Someday a robot will be asked to cry to prove that it has a soul because I can’t think of any other way to figure that out.

Someday while you are softly crying during a funeral you will feel an invisible hand lace itself inside of yours. Then an unseen voice will whisper in your ear “Baby, we go on and on and on.”

Someday instead of shaking hands at the start of a conversation we will just rest our palms on each other’s cheeks and feel the grooves that the tears have formed in our faces hum for one another.

Someday my tears will sing “Amazing Grace” while they pour down my cracked and wrinkled face.

Someday when our souls leave our bodies our spirits will float up to heaven on a wave consisting of every single tear that we have ever produced.

Someday we won’t cry when relationships end, but we sob at the very moment they begin.

Someday the best lesson you will ever learn will come from a single fat daddy teardrop that is resting somewhere between your cheek and chin.

No, this isn’t about weakness. Tears are the strongest element I know.

~ john roedel

Art by The Art of Jennifer Yoswa

Source: Facebook - John Roedel

I got this wound for caring

 

don't let your

skin become

so thick that

nothing can

hurt you anymore

getting wounded

is part of the experience

the scars you

collect are all

part of your story

take off your armor

and give vulnerability

a chance to paint

your naked form

feel the sunlight

on your shoulders

let the wind move

through your hair

give your tears a

chance to be counted

allow us to be swept

up in your smile

~ you see, my love,

you weren't born

to be hidden behind

a towering wall

you were formed out

of an ancient whisper to

become a natural wonder

where we all visit to

listen to the songbirds

sing through the pines of

your evergreen beauty

you were given this skin

to be kissed softly

- don't let it grow scales

you were given your eyes

to reflect starlight

- don't close them to keep us from

seeing your soul

you were given your hands

to lace inside another hand

- don't keep them constantly

folded in your lap

my love,

I know this world

can be a sharpened spear

that will often pierce you

but

when given a choice

bleeding is always

better than apathy

someday when we

meet in the moving

cosmic river that exists

on the crawling fringe

of everything

let's take turns

washing each other's

scars while saying

the same prayer

over and over:

"I got this wound

for caring and I

got this one for

having an open heart

but that is the cost

that comes from being

a living work of sacred art."

~ John Roedel

(art by Siv Storøy)

Source: Facebook - John Roedel

Truth

 

I had the courage

 

''I have not been able to feel regret at the loss of any man in my life. I've always thought that people leave, that's how they are. Even I have left the lives of many. However, the only time I regretted it was when I lost myself. Where? I don't know either. Maybe among so many fake people who poisoned my soul. And I never found that naive, dreamy girl who believed in love and dreams. Instead, I had the courage to reinvent myself. ''

Ali McGraw 

Ai art by me

Alice in Wonderland

 

"Do you love Me?" Alice asked.

"No, I don't love you!" replied the White Rabbit.

Alice frowned and clasped her hands together as she did whenever she felt hurt.

"See?" replied the White Rabbit. "Now you're going to start asking yourself what makes you so imperfect and what did you do wrong so that I can't love you at least a little.

You know, that's why I can't love you. You will not always be loved Alice, there will be days when others will be tired and bored with life, will have their heads in the clouds, and will hurt you.

Because people are like that, they somehow always end up hurting each other's feelings, whether through carelessness, misunderstanding, or conflicts with themselves.

If you don't love yourself, at least a little, if you don't create an armor of self-love and happiness around your heart, the feeble annoyances caused by others will become lethal and will destroy you.

The first time I saw you I made a pact with myself: 'I will avoid loving you until you learn to love yourself.' "

- Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

Source: Facebook: Matthew Knott

We underestimate...

 

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” 

Leo Buscaglia

Artist: hermakitching 

Pairing by Whispers from the Heart

Source: Facebook - Whispers from the Heart

But I haven’t achieved anything today,

 

“But I haven’t achieved anything today,” she said.

And yet she’d bought an extra coffee for the man sat on the street outside the cafe.

She’d donated some books to charity on her way into work.

She’d sponsored her niece for the marathon she was running and she’d bought cakes for her colleagues ‘just because’.

She’d made people feel seen, valued, cared for.

She had achieved something so productive that it had the power to make someone’s day.

She had achieved kindness.

And the best part was…

she didn’t even realise

how well she’d done it.

*****

Never underestimate the power of your kindness

Becky Hemsley

Art ~ Pinterest

Source: Facebook - Bring Side

Kate Smith's Heart-Stirring 'God Bless America' - This Is the Army (1943...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, August 28, 1749

Died March 22, 1832

Quotes:

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way as us."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Whenever I hear people talking about "liberal ideas," I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Oh, I envy you!" he cried. "You are still nourished by yesterday's alms, but yesterday's happiness no longer nourishes me."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Elective Affinities)

"The most original authors are not so because they advance what is new, but because they put what they have to say as if it had never been said before."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." 

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"

"What is uttered from the heart alone will win the hearts of others to your own. 

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Woe betide those," I said, "who use the power they have over someone's heart to rob it of the simple joys that are in its nature. All the presents and attentions in the world cannot make up for that moment of natural pleasure that the tyrant's envious cruelty has soured."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (The Sorrows of Young Werther)

The Lie said to the Truth

 

"The Lie said to the Truth - "Let's take a bath together, the well water is very nice."

The Truth, still suspicious, tested the water

and found out it really was nice.

So they got naked and bathed.

But suddenly, the Lie leapt out of the water

and fled, wearing the clothes of the Truth.

The Truth, furious, climbed out of the well

to get her clothes back.

But the World, upon seeing the naked Truth,

looked away, with anger and contempt.

Poor Truth returned to the well and

disappeared forever, hiding her shame.

Since then, the Lie runs around the world,

dressed as the Truth, and society is very happy.

Because the world has no desire to know

the naked Truth."

~ unknown

Painting: Truth Coming Out Of The Well,

Jean-Léon Gérome, 1896

Source: Facebook - Poet's Corner / Esquina Poetica

Sticks and stones may break my bones

 

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words will cut me deep

They’ll keep on hurting long after

The breaks and bruises heal

Because the sticks will meet my skin,

The stones may hit my bones

But words will carve their way beneath

And make my soul their home

And this gives them the power

To control me and to win

‘Cause now I’ve words of worthlessness

From outside and within

See stones are thrown in anger

But our words are thrown in spite

And whilst they’re easier to pitch

They’re more difficult to fight

Because we cannot run away,

We cannot just unhear them,

Because their echoes resonate

Long after we are near them

And if we are not careful

Then those words become our voice

One that learns to shout the loudest

And to make the biggest noise

So do not be the reason

Someone hates their own reflection

Or thinks they are not worthy

Or deserving of affection

And when you pick your words

Weigh them awhile between your palms

Consider whether hurling them

Will heal or hurt or harm

Yes, sticks and stones may break a bone

But words can break a heart

And they can be the reason

Someone tears themself apart

So if you wouldn’t break their bones

By throwing stones and sticks

It’s likely for the best

That some words do not leave your lips

****

Becky Hemsley 2022

Artwork by Femke Muntz

Source: Facebook - Bring Side