You are salt, you are light

Quite some time ago, I was inspired to write the song I've spent the last week trying to make a decent recording of. What inspired me was a dream - not mine, one I read about online. A terminally ill teenager had made a web-based journal (not quite a blog) describing her struggle with cancer. At the top of the page, she posted an experience she'd had in a dream around Christmas time.

Jesus came to her bedside, and took her hand. Soon they were on a beach, like in Footprints in the Sand, and he brought her to a beatific vision that she could barely describe, it was so beautiful, and many of her fellow patients were there to greet her. But Jesus sent her back, indicating it was not yet time.

At the end of this account, she said she did not know why she'd been sent back. She could not understand it, and even seemed disappointed somewhat all that day.

It occured to me that I knew why. She was salt of the Earth, light of the world. She would go on to inspire the Guiness-record setting group hug, one that raised over a hundred thousand dollars for cancer research. Though I never knew her, her shining witness in this world left a lasting impression on me.

This is that song.

If Nothing Else

I saw a man who went up to the mountain
A crowd had followed him
To hear him speak
He looked at us, a billion strong, and then
He began to talk of the blessed and the meek

You are salt,
You are light,
A shining hill
Cannot hide
So shine your light
Shine it to the world

He said, If nothing else
All our time is borrowed
Consider even the lilies have their home
So if nothing else
Leave your cares to tomorrow
Each day brings enough of its own

I saw a smiling girl, she was struggling to her feet
He came to her and gently took her hand
He carried her, leaving footprints on the beach
She asked him why he took her from the sand

You are salt,
You are light,
A shining hill
Cannot hide
So shine your light
Shine it to the world

He said, If nothing else
All our time is borrowed
Consider even the lilies have their home
So if nothing else
Leave your cares to tomorrow
Each day brings enough of its own

I saw a man we followed to Gethsemane
He said, The hour has come, yet you will all be mine
His friend seized a sword and cut away my ear
He healed my wound then told me it was time

You are salt,
You are light,
A shining hill
Cannot hide
So shine your light
Shine it to the world

He said, If nothing else
All our time is borrowed
Consider even the lilies have their home
So if nothing else
Leave your cares to tomorrow
Each day brings enough of its own