It’s been a rich week, in large part because I’ve spent sweet time in the company of old friends. I’ve also been thinking a lot about writing and words and the impact words have on me. Here are some words that recently struck a chord with me.

1. I watched Wish Me Away, a documentary about singer Chely Wright. In it, someone said, “Wherever there’s a broken heart, the heart that usually follows is raw.” That was said in the context of wanting to see what songs Chely would write in her state of rawness and fully anticipating that they would be rich and powerful. If there’s an upside to a broken heart, I think that might be it.
2. Also from Wish Me Away, “There’s nobody quite as mean as people being mean for Jesus.” I believe that. I’ve experienced that. But I also believe and have experienced that the truest, sweetest love offered comes from people who live and offer the love of Jesus.
3. In Searching for Sugarman, a documentary about a musician from Detroit who became a huge hit in South Africa, I heard the line, “Home is acceptance.” I’ve always thought of home as my alone space, my place of refuge from everything and even everyone. What would it be like for home to be a place I shared with someone who offered acceptance – total acceptance?
4. On an early season of The Voice (maybe even the first), I met and totally fell for Vicci Martinez. I loved her battle with Nikki Dawson, and I’ve loved her music so much that I even went to see her by myself in concert in Portland last summer. I just heard a song by her called Hold Me Darlin’ that contains the line, “But I said I’m sorry. Are you giving up?” Those words took my breath away. I realized that no matter where we are or what we’re feeling, someone has been there before and has felt just exactly the same way.

As a kid, I used to keep a quote book. I think it’s time to do it again.