Brooke Campbell: News

I remembered my frame today. I listened...and there I was. I had to get really quiet. Then I heard shallow breathing. I saw the little purple vessel in my wrist flutter. I blinked in slow motion and saw the world go black, then return. I felt around where the hair comes out of my head and followed a few strands down ''til they slipped out of my fingers-saw the prints on those fingers.I drank a swallow of ice water and felt the chill run through the pipes in my throat. It was fun.
Then I remembered some advice from one of John Piper's teachers. He said, "Forget yourself and do your work." Now, when I do that, I notice the world-how burdened my coworkers at the restaurant are by the menial tasks that occupy us. I saw Abu straining to reach the top shelf, Magnolia standing, legs in pain, while she waited to clean the bathroom after each person. I had the energy to care.
Why in the world would God care to liberate me from myself? Why in a tangible way, would He give me such a gift? I'm sure there are plenty of answers out there. But, at the spot where the rubber meets the road, I am baffled at the difference between me relying only on the earth and me relying on what is essentially a mystery. I am more solid leaning against a Spirit and unsteady leaning against the tangible.

It's been over a year since I wrote anything. And, you know, no foul, because people are not trampling my website. Plenty of grass growing here. I don't mind and I miss them at the same time.
Do you understand?

I love being left alone. Completely alone. But, at the one am's of my life and when the ink is still wet on the page--during those moments, I wish I had not isolated. I wish there were people to understand that water just came out of a rock. That it does not flow readily here, yet it is.
What stirred this pot?
I was just chosen to play in front of a bunch of people with whom I think I share a great deal. A crowd before whom I don't have to pull punches or edit. How is it so?
How is it that this is such a rare, precious gift?
That safety is so hard to come by?

I am hopeful and grateful for any pocket of people who have sat long enough in the dark to give place to the things that drive one there-the incongruencies of life that rub the skin off our arms-that leave us raw and bleeding while demanding that we wear gold bracelets, sip champagne, and smile in a open-air cafe.

I am raw most of the time.

Never more so than when I am trying not to be.

Anxiety = trying not to be

"Be anxious for nothing..."

So, the big change comes. You move. You marry. You procreate or adopt a cat. And the future seems so foreign that it's like staring into the sun. You reflect on what has been-good and bad. You clean out your closet to the soundtrack of songs that have gotten you this far.

And then you eat, sleep, and work over and over again until "the shiny has rubbed off", as my mama says.

And one day, a couple of seasons later, you check your own pulse and realize that time has steam-rolled you into history.You look more or less the same, but really, you're not.

You're feet are imperceptibly wider, your cell production has slowed to a brisk walk, you haven't seen your grandma...

Time is not free or fair.

It costs whether its flitting about lands on magnanimity or heartlessness

So, a show I recently played will be podcast(ed?). You can find it at acousticli.com-accompanied by a rather disturbing picture (oh, vanity--sigh)...

Has anyone seen this?

This wonderful little movie has been playing on HBO2 for the past month.
It is absolutely beautiful and grounding.
I'll stop way short of reviewing it as I wouldn't really know how and want you to see it for yourself.
I will say that it makes me marvel at how easily we all become politicians and how barren and lonely and delicately destitute living honestly with the truth can be.

I hope you'll watch it.

Hi everybody,

Well, I have finally joined the rest of the world on My Space.

Those of you who are savvy, come on over and visit.

If you never have been, there will be link on the LINKS page. You can join for free and communicate a little easier.

If you're not into it, the guestbook here is still open for business.

Love,

Brooke

Hi everyone!

I'm imagining a red carpet rolling out from this page and you walking down it. I'm so glad you stopped by.

I'll be posting things pretty frequently, so please come and do the same.

Peace.

Brooke