“Sing Bright” – a poem by Mike Gates
We long for a time when life will always feel fine. A day without pain, where hope is not delayed.
For the support from a friend, who could lend a helping hand. Maybe a hug and a smile to mend our heart again.
When the waves come crashing down trying to knock you off course. To hear a kind word and some encouragement, we will always yearn for more.
Worry and stress strikes such a mean blow, it robs you of the joy that once made you glow.
Despite the terror at night and all of the rage. We still have this promise for sure that there will be a much brighter day.
Just call out His name for our Lord and our King. To Jesus the redeemer who makes our heart sing.
If life has you down and your friends have all bailed. To God be the glory, His love never fails.
About a month ago I posted on social media this poem I wrote called “Sing Bright.” I now have decided that I should also post it to my blog and expound on it. It has been a long time since I wrote poetry, but I was inspired to pen this poem. With all forms of art there is always a purpose and meaning behind what the artist creates. Only the artist knows the true meaning behind the inspiration for their works of art. But art is always open to interpretation too, right? Because I try to be vulnerable with my writing, I feel that I should explain the meaning behind my poem “Sing Bright.” You are still free to interpret the poem however it speaks to you, so go for it. Writing is therapeutic for me, just as any art form is to creatives. I am more comfortable being vulnerable in writing than I am verbally speaking about my thoughts. Creatively expressing your thoughts and expressing what God has laid on your heart helps with the healing process. There is a deep sense of relief and freedom when you release what has been bottled up inside you.
So, what inspired me to write this poem? Does it make sense to you when you read it? I know at the time it made sense to me, still does of course. Sometimes I feel that my poetry would make more sense if it were “spoken word.” I do enjoy spoken word style poetry, and I love to hear poets who do spoken word, but I prefer to write. The meaning and the reason why I penned my poem is because it was written out of frustration. The frustration of when you feel like you are not being heard or when you feel like you are being silenced. Because of my personality I get attention from people. People feel safe around me, they enjoy talking to me, having me around, so I do feel loved by people I care about and who care about me. But because of my personality I also get ignored by people too, well at least it feels like it at times. In the past I have struggled with rejection issues and a fear of being forgotten. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? “A fear of being forgotten,” but seriously there is a word for it, it is called “Athazagoraphobia.” Go figure, there is a phobia for everything. So maybe I am ignored or maybe I am not.
Usually when I feel ignored it is because I “assume” that people just think I am this happy-go-lucky, laid-back, nice guy who is not bothered by being ignored. I play this narrative in my head of people saying, “oh it’s just Mike, he’s ok, he will get over it.” I say the word “assume” because yes there are people who intentionally are jerks to people, but not everyone who ignores you does it intentionally. Often, people do not realize that they ignore you at the time. And I am sure people might have at times felt that I ignore them too, so can go both ways. Yep, if you already did not know, I can also be an overthinker. You have plenty of time to overthink when you are a quiet person or when it is quiet. Have you ever felt how one day you feel like the life of a party, but then on another day you feel all alone in a room full of people? So, imagine what it feels like to one minute feel like you are being heard and then the next feel like you are being ignored. Does that happen to you too? I try and remind myself when I feel ignored that maybe the person ignoring me is because they too have lot on their mind, maybe they are busy, or maybe they struggle with being socially awkward like I do.
My whole life I have been an introverted extrovert. I am an introvert around people I do not know, but I am an extrovert with people I am close to. Growing up I was very shy around people I did not know. So shy that I was embarrassed to say simple things like “thank you” or “hello.” Which came across as me being a rude kid without having good manners. In reality I was not being rude, it was just that my shyness would make me panic and socially awkward. I still struggle with feeling socially awkward, but thankfully I am not as shy as I used to be when I was a kid. As an adult I love being around people and meeting new people. Yes, introverts are generally quiet people, but when we have something to say then we feel an urgency to say it. Unfortunately, we do not always get to say what is on our heart. For me as an introvert sometimes my timing can be off or completely missed. A battle with how to say it and when to talk at the right moment. In my head I know what I want to say, but sometimes the words come out different or not what I intended to say. As an introvert I can create a great monologue in my head like a Shakespearean play, but then I stumble with my words out of my mouth. I also struggle when trying to jump into the middle of conversations, especially if I am with a group of people talking, again my timing can be off. The best example of that is when you try to jump onto a playground merry-go-round while it is moving, spinning around fast. I can also easily get distracted when there is a lot of noise around me which makes me lose my train of thought. But I can easily remember everything that I wanted to say, or was planning to say when I am all by myself and it is quiet. It is so frustrating when you miss your chance to add to the conversation, because eventually by then the conversation has already moved on to a new topic ha-ha.
Introverts may be quiet, but we are also good listeners, which is an excellent quality to have. I love sitting with older people and hearing their life stories, my grandparents always had delightful stories to share with me. There is wisdom to gain when you learn from a person’s life story. Hopefully, my story encourages you. Lot of times for me when I am quiet it is because I also like to observe and discern the environment I am in. And to be honest, I must confess that there are times too when I just tune out everything around me when the environment is overwhelming. But as introverts, we still have a voice, and we do like to be heard. Often times we miss our moment to speak, and then we regret not saying what we have in our heart. There is this fight within during times when we try to open our mouth, but no words are sounded out. We try to speak up, but then no one hears. We try to project our voice, but then get cut off, sometimes before a sentence is formed, and sometimes in mid-sentence. Ironically though people just think we are quiet all the time. But in reality, I always do have a lot to say, well maybe at least in my thoughts I do.
I had to go to speech class when I was in kindergarten because I had trouble pronouncing words correctly. Another reason I was shy is because I did not want anyone to make fun of how I talked. I am not an eloquent speaker, but still somehow through God’s grace and maybe His good sense of humor ha-ha, that He called me to preach His word in November of 1995. I tried to run away from His calling because I did not feel I was worthy enough or skilled enough to preach His word. I was too focused on my lack of confidence to communicate a message properly to people. But I had learned you cannot run away from God when He calls you to ministry. I had finally given up running and answered His call and have been preaching God’s word ever since. I have confidence when I share about Jesus and scripture. I still stumble over my words, sometimes I stutter and sometimes my words sound slurred. I have trouble pronouncing Hebrew names in the bible, but I know lot of other preachers who do too. But thankfully by God, He has helped me to find strength in my weakness. And through His anointing, thankfully people understand what I am saying when I preach. Do not limit yourself or limit God when it comes to the gifts, He has placed in you!
There is no wonder why introverts have creative gifts, we are loud and bold when expressing ourselves through our style of art. We do not like to draw attention to ourselves, but we do like to draw attention to our creative works of art. Maybe we are being heard after all, maybe we do not go unnoticed. We have our own unique way of shouting out in different forms. Imagine that an introvert technically can never be silenced because we still find a way to be heard, just like I did with writing this poem and blog post. Extroverts have creative gifts too, so I am not ignoring extroverts. My wife Kim is an extrovert, she is a schoolteacher, worship singer and is very creative. My wife inspires me.
I chose the title “Sing Bright” for my poem because the word “bright” is a musical term to make something sound bold, loud, and clear. With more projection, energy and at a higher frequency. We all have a voice, and we want to be heard. We try to be bold and speak with clarity but sometimes our words fall flat, and words can diminish as we feel unheard. It can be discouraging when we feel unheard, but we still keep trying to be heard. So be bold, be loud, make it clear. Let your light shine, sing bright!
Maybe I should not get frustrated after all when I feel like I am not being heard or silenced. The fact that someone is reading this long post shows that I am being heard. If you are still reading this post, then obviously you are listening to me. I might not always have a lot to say verbally, but I do have a lot to talk about on paper. Well, I can also preach a sermon for an hour, so I guess I do get long-winded when talking too ha-ha. Thank you for taking the time to read my poem and post.
If you struggle with anything I have shared in this post, do know you are not alone. And do know that at times when you feel like no one is listening that there is a loving God in heaven who hears everything we say to Him. God is always willing to listen to us. Praying is simply having a conversation with God. Sing bright, praise God with a shout! Just as the ending of my poem, always remember that… “If life has you down and your friends have all bailed. To God be the glory, His love never fails.” It is true, God’s love never fails!
Psalm 18:6 NKJV – “In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”
My beautiful daughter created this image for my poem that I posted on social media…
