June 2018 Playlist

I just want you to know about Holly Arrowsmith. I found her music via this photo by @hannnahbeth on Instagram. Thanks Hannah! Holly's music is as stunning as is that portrait of her. And there's a bonus video of Holly's song "Every Kingdom" below. Watch it. It won't be wasted time. In its first few seconds, you are taken by the visuals, pace, and astounding beauty coalesced there. At least, I was.

What I find so mesmerizing about Holly is her ability to deliver the ancient story in all of us with such loveliness and ache. 

Speaking of, we recently returned from a family reunion in Michigan – specifically, Northport Bay Retreat. Twenty-some of us gathered from MI, OH, IL, and OR for a long weekend to celebrate my grandparents' 68th wedding anniversary and their respective 90th and 93rd birthdays.

It had been a decade since I spent a warm day in northern Michigan with my Morris family. If you've never been, it's brimming with dewy pines, vineyards, ferns, wet sand, and that crystal blue lapping lake water. And – what's more – we arrived in the prime of Lilac Season. The splendor of it was almost too much. Truly - Andrew told me my exclaiming from the passenger seat was getting a liiiittle out of hand. ;)

I don't know. Something happens to you when you witness your family reunite after a while apart. When you share meals together and lessons learned. When you harmonize to the Doxology, recall both recent and long-ago memories, and when you toast to well-journeyed lives with bourbon barrel-aged wine. As my cousin Jen poignantly shared our last evening together: "We don't have to be at this family reunion. We get to." I couldn't agree more.

With that said, the lyrics to Holly Arrowsmith's song "Every Kingdom" haven't been published yet, so I've transcribed them here for you. They convey the heart behind this June playlist, really. To me, they speak to those myriad feelings experienced when returning somewhere familiar... reconciling the old and new versions of yourself. 

Look out from
the tower
over all you can see
That was your Kingdom
And you were our Queen

I'd wait by the driveway
Counting down your
re-
turn
Afraid I might lose you
if I prayed
the wrong
words

But ev-
ery Kingdom
must fall

Oh, time is
a giver
Time is a thief
For all that we lose,
we surely must grieve
And grief is a friend
we don't know 'til we meet
She walks alongside us
'til we find relief

Though ev-
ery Kingdom
must fall

Well, I have lost friends, 
lovers, and dreams
Out of these trem-
bling hands
have fallen many things
But inside is a fire burning faint below
It perches, then it urges me on

Though ev-
ery Kingdom must fall
And words cannot be undone
But all things can be made new
In ev-
ery sorrow, a song
It won't be long

Though the space in between them
seems too far
to reach
Times I've imagined
a bridge in between
And if I could be water
that's what I'd be
Stretch my arms out to reach
both shores beyond me

Peace to you,
Rachel

Have any music recommendations?