Now Your Turn to Write a Psalm

 

Today, rather than giving you a form to fill out, I want to invite you to compose your own Psalm.  Wait, stay with me, don’t run away.  I want you to turn down the volume on that voice that says, “Um, Wes, I am NOT a poet, and I know it.  I do not like to write a song, I would rather kiss a frog.”  Yes, I know song and frog is a bit of a stretch for a rhyme, but that is my point.  You don’t have to write the most beautiful Shakespearean sonnet today.  There is no grade for your psalm; you need only listen to your shy soul say what it has been longing to say and sing but couldn’t get a word in edgewise because we rarely slow down long enough to listen.  

 

Take a breath and then another.  Press mute on your inner critic.  Now, what is one experience, encounter, or event that has been running circles in your mind this week?  It could be a national news story; it could be a friend whose words still linger in your heart; it could be a pain in your shoulder (if that seems oddly specific, it is because that is something I am living with right now).  What is spinning on the hamster wheel of your mind?  For wars and leaders who think that being bullies is how the world works.  For people I love with cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, in the hospital to hospice.  For birthdays, celebrations, and vacations.  For music that stirs my heart.  Speaking of my heart, drop down into that center place in your body, put your hand on your heart.  What emotions do you feel as your heart works to pump blood from the top of your head to your pinkie toe?  I feel a strange brew of anger, fear, joy, hopefulness, and helplessness.  My emotions are all over the map because my head and heart are in communication/connection to each other.  Now drop down into your soul, what is your deepest longing?  If you could embody God’s dream, what would that mean? 

 

You now have the raw material for your Psalm.  You can start with praise, move to prayer, and resolve the poem with a promise to let God feed and fuel your life.  You can start with lament, move to laughter, and end with a longing to move toward where God is calling.  You can start with hope, move to where you need help, and then trust that all you’ve said and left unsaid is held by God.  Remember, the golden rule of writing ~ just write, don’t edit.  Your first draft of your Psalm will not be Mary Oliver spun words of gold.  Every writer pens crappy first drafts that are edited, refined, and re-framed over time.  So, too, don’t expect this first Psalm to win a Pulitzer Prize, because the prize is that you are letting loose what is living inside you as a prayer to God. Happy writing and I can’t wait to hear, read, and hold what you come up with!  Amen.