Three weeks ago, I was given a tremendous honor. I was asked to write a song for my friend Ruby Ann Jones Fulbright in honor of her life, work, and retirement from WMU NC. Most people call Ruby, Ruby Fulbright. But I call her Ruby Ann Jones Fulbright because I stumbled upon her full name when trying to write her bio for an event and I thought that her full name was lovely—and a more accurate representation of who she is.
To say that I was nervous about writing the song is an understatement. How do you summarize someone’s life and influence when it has been so rich and deep? How do you put into song emotions that are far beyond words? Yet I prayed for the freedom to write. And I wrote. And I probably wasn’t the safest driver in the world as I jotted down lyrics on a bank envelope because it was the only thing I had to write on in the rental that I was driving the night the song was birthed.
The creative process is beyond me. It is alive, organic, moving, and something that amazes me every time I experience it. I experienced it on birthing night when I began to put a piano part with the lyrics and the lyrics began to rearrange themselves for a better song. I experienced it when I went home and was told that I had to stop playing the piano at 1:30 in the morning and that what I was playing sounded like, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” and I realized I needed to change it to something else. I experienced it with a friend as she worked to design a canvas on which to give Ruby the words. I experienced it over the weekend when I asked my friends Allison and Jen if they wanted to sing harmony with me and a harmony part emerged that made the song so much richer than it had been just two hours before the song’s debut. The creative process is very much a spiritual process. And it’s so very beautiful and alive. And it’s so very…well…God.
I didn’t see Ruby Ann as we sang her song, but I heard that she was touched. I’m so very grateful. And humbled. And amazed…at our friendship…and our lives…and the journeying process that brought them together.
--------
“Ruby Ann”
2012
Your courage started young when you played underneath the sun
With your three brothers right behind
Following close
How could you have known then that those cliffs that you were jumping
Would reappear upon your journey
Later on
But when the time came you knew what to do
Take a leap of faith and trust God to
Guide you safely to the other side
On truth you stood, on God alone as guide
In your daily life you became mother, leader, wife
And it was easy to get lost
And forget yourself
Cause the world, it pulls you thin, demands your work and time and then
Leaves you to wonder if it all
Matters in the end
But oh you believe in me
When the world was dark your light helped me to see
The love of Christ and God’s will just to be
Oh you matter to me
How quickly years have passed and now the moment’s come at last
When you must do the hardest thing
You’ve ever done
Release your hopes and dreams, walk away from unstitched seams
Onto a future path that leads
To the unknown
But you will never walk alone
‘Cause love surrounds you like the love you’ve shown
The prayers, the grace, the hope, the peace, the quest for integrity
Are all coming back to set you free
Oh I believe in you
You’ve shined a light in darkness and guided us to
Hear God’s voice and stand upon God’s truth
Oh you matter to me
Yes, Ruby Ann, you matter...
No comments:
Post a Comment