Tag Archives: Reach For Me

52.15 ~ everything (tous)

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The third, but most important “person” in any relationship…GOD!

Sometimes in a new relationship, it’s easy to become enveloped in each other and forget about almost EVERYTHING else!  In fact, sometimes it can feel like the relationship itself is your whole world.  I’m so fortunate that I met my love through choir at our awesome parish, St. Paul the Apostle.  Faith, for both of us, is incredibly important and something that was not always a priority in other relationships in the past.  It really makes all the difference when you can come back to that central point of faith.  It’s truly a gift when you can admit, I’m gonna fall short a lot, and when your partner can admit that they’re gonna fall short a lot, and that only with God and faith and trust will we survive this thing and this life.

I’ve talked a little on my blog about being gay and being Catholic, but there is a whole new dynamic when you involve a significant other.  Being Catholic there is a lot of fear entering into a relationship with another man.  I have to think about, what message is this sending, am I scandalizing my brothers and sisters in the Church, etc.  I want everyone to know that this is not something that I’ve jumped into lightly.  This is something that I’ve been truly discerning for years.  My conclusion, I’m happier, healthier, and most importantly – closer to God and my faith when I’m in relationship with someone.  And ultimately, I hope that by being closer to God I will be closer to all of you as well – to be freed up to reveal more of my true self as a child of God to each of you.

Back to the fear I mentioned.  This time around, dating a wonderful guy, in prayer I’ve really felt our Lord affirming me…BE NOT AFRAID, BE NOT AFRAID, BE NOT AFRAID.  And that’s really why I’m sharing here.  We can all get caught in judging, but we really really really have to leave that part to our Lord.  We certainly have to pray for each other and advise each other, but leave the judging to God.  One of my favorite lines from a Sara Groves song says, “I can’t even judge myself, only the Lord can say, well done.”

Together, let’s look to the Lord, who brings each of us closer to, everything.

EVERYTHING

I’ve got a way with words
They stampede like a wild herd
Til they’re tamed and rearranged
I’m not everything

You know the way of silence
Still and stoic like a picket fence
Til it’s saved by the sound of grace
You’re not everything

I’m not everything
You’re not everything
But together we’re onto something
That feels like everything
Everything

The weight of your love caves me in
Til you gather the pieces again
I will break and you will break
We’re not everything

I’m not everything
You’re not everything
But together we’re onto something
That feels like everything
Everything

When we’re alone I pray
I can hear him say
Be not afraid
Be not afraid

I’m not everything
You’re not everything
But together we’re onto something
That feels like everything
Everything

52.14 ~ remember how to love (se rappeler comment l’amour)

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Another facet of every relationship is the storm.

The storm typically catches us off guard.  Sometimes small moments of misunderstanding, pride and insecurity sneak in and cause us to act in a way that is completely contrary to the deeper feeling we have for a friend or loved one.  We humans can act so irrationally in these moments.

Other moments in life might look a lot more like a real storm with physical, emotional, or mental destruction.  It’s almost unbelievable what we’re capable of doing to those we care about.  However, if a relationship is rooted in genuine love, a transcendent love, the same love that literally is God, it really and truly cannot fail.  We might fail, we might forget how to love, but love never can and never will.

In any relationship, with a friend, family member or significant other it’s so important to establish a common ground, a root that goes deep enough to ride out the storm.  This understanding that when all is said and done we’ll remember why we love and how we love is what sets us up for something lasting.  Even better, this understanding might prevent some of the storms in the first place.

My hope and prayer in this second track from my video EP “Reach For Me” entitled “Remember How to Love” is that when the storm approaches that those I love and that love me would actually reach for me like a tree bending in the harshest wind.  It might not be comfortable and it might require a small or even great amount of humility, but it might just save us both in the end.

REMEMBER HOW TO LOVE

Maybe I said something wrong
Maybe you conjured this storm
Cause the lightning in your eyes
Reflects the thunder in my cry

Maybe I should have gone
Before the roof was blown off
Now the rain is filling in
And our hearts are drowning

When the flood rises up
Let us remember
Remember how to love

Maybe I bend til you break
Maybe you pull til I push
The only proof we need
Is in the wind that we cannot see

When the flood rises up
Let us remember
Remember how to love

In the calm just before
We forget who we are
Reach out to me
Like a branch on a tree
Surrendering to earth’s majesty

Maybe I said something wrong
Maybe you conjured this storm

When the flood rises up
Let us remember
When the flood rises up
Let us remember
Remember how to love

52.13 ~ just me and just you (juste moi et viens de vous)

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Falling in love.  There is nothing quite like it.  It reminds me of going for a good run…

For those of you who know me – you must be thinking, “did David just use the word ‘run’ in a sentence?”  I would never have put the word “good” in front of the word “run” until very recently, so no worries, you’re not too out of the loop!

A month ago today, May 17th, I ran my first half marathon here in Brooklyn, NY.  I had done more training/running in the four previous months than I had in my entire life, but when I showed up to the start line 31 days ago, I didn’t know if I would make it.  I was excited and even jazzed up, but there was a little nagging voice that kept reminding me that I wasn’t cut out for this.

I think falling in love can be like this too, right?  We show up excited and even hopeful for what lies ahead.  But we’ve been hurt before, or cheated on before or any number of actions that have left us skeptical about finding a lasting love with another man or woman.

After I passed the start line the real highs and lows began – moments of joy thinking of friends and family, new love, music, all that the future might hold for me – moments of despair not believing that I could really run 13.1 miles.  The race became an immediate metaphor for life and love.

I didn’t run this literal race with anyone by my side, but the inspiration of so many loved ones and my faith carried me through.  I can’t remember another time that I couldn’t stop crying because of joy, but after the race I was inconsolable.  I was so grateful, so full of life (although I wanted to lay down for like 2 weeks), and felt so blessed to be a part of it.  In grade school I was the fat kid who could never finish running the mile (1 mile), so this task of 13.1 miles, which so many people accomplish, was a feat for me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Ultimately, in the race of life and love, we simply can’t get to the finish line alone.  This first track from my video EP “Reach For Me” is called “Just Me and Just You” and is about leaving the past behind while running into new love, helping each other through it, and looking forward to that glorious moment at the race’s end.  It reflects the joy that I felt at the end of the half marathon, but more so the joy of being in love!  Enjoy!

JUST ME AND JUST YOU 

I’ll put on my red sneakers
You put on your red sneakers
And we’ll go how we do

Leave behind binding mementos
That leave my mind where the wind blows
And we’ll go how we do

And we’ll run side by side
Into the light
Away from blood and bitterness
Only to find
A blazing sign
That points us to
Just me and just you

On the way I will trip
On the way you will trip
And we’ll fall how we do

I will reach out for you
If you will reach out for me too
And we’ll go how we do

And we’ll run side by side
Into the light
Away from blood and bitterness
Only to find
A blazing sign
That points us to
Just me and just you

Ah, ah, ah
And at the race’s end
I will look to you my friend
But til then

I’ll put on my red sneakers
If you put on your red sneakers

And we’ll run side by side
Into the light
Away from blood and bitterness
Only to find
A blazing sign
That points us to
Just me and just you

Ah, ah, ah
Just me and just you

I’m Back!

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Hello!

I took a bit of a hiatus with the blog as I had some visitors here, travelled back to the Midwest myself, and worked on making paper flowers for a wedding (paperportrayals.com)…(yes, this is my job!).  What’s been more time consuming (in the best way possible) than any of that is that I’m in love!  In honor of this fact, I’ve compiled 4 new songs into a video EP of sorts called “Reach For Me.”  It’s only available here on the blog naturally and will be released 1 song at a time over the coming days!  Can’t wait to share these new songs with you and of course about all that inspired them.

I’m back!

David J. Summers photo-5Artwork by Chelsey Rogers.