your phoenix is rising : : Sprout songs

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Here I was: Sipping coffee. Turning on lights to brighten a gloomy gray day. Working slowly, steadily, lovingly on Sprout: Gather (11/15/14), honoring the power of our coming together.

And then. This song played. 

She broke me open.
She brought an onslaught of tears,
a cathartic wave of grief and pain, 
hope and healing.

Please listen.
If you are hurting or have ever hurt.
Listen.

“We are, we are more than our scars
We are, we are more than the sum of our parts

I didn’t know I was a phoenix
’til I learned how to speak
Even with ashes in my mouth
I was still born to breathe

I wonder, are you like me
Were you left in the fire?”

— Mary Lambert, "Sum of our Parts"

From my Instagram feed:

I catch myself in the corner of my eye & wonder who she is. Grief stories rewrite us. How will we live? Will I choose bitterness or trembling sweet? Will I harden or let my heart stay tender? // I choose, I choose, I choose the risk of love & loss. Because I could live no other way.

“Look how bright we are
Look at all the things we have come from
Sometimes it hurts when we become them
Sometimes I bury myself in my own wreckage and don’t want to come out
Which part of you clipped your own wings?
Which part of you will begin at your own end?
Which part of you will you let live again?”

— Mary Lambert, "Sum of our Parts"

// Grief stories: I'm cracking open & letting you in. Because so many of us carry hidden aches and feel isolated in our suffering.

But we aren't. We are never alone. I share my story because healing waits in vulnerability, in owning our messy truth, in leaning into openness. I find comfort in our Sprout community . . . and I want you, too, to find kinship and sanctuary with us. You can be real here . . . and I will always be real with you. //

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Beloved, your phoenix is rising.
Hold on. Hold on.

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With deep love & outstretched hand,
Amanda
{Sprout creator, editor,
& chief gatherer of good}