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