Friction
“As a pearl is formed only when the oyster is agitated with sand, the most important moments of my life were born out of friction.” - Jon Foreman
The tension is where we find who we truly are. Our creativity and our passions are born out of this tension. Out of friction. When you’re breathing in all the highs and lows of life, that is when you are most alive. It’s not sitting in front of a television watching the latest news. It’s not toiling away the day at a job you can barely stand. You are most alive when you can feel the tension. The day you quit your job you are living. The day you play your first gig, you are living. Oh, how often we settle for numb inducing comfort. We trade dreams and passions for a paycheck.
I’m a songwriter. Which basically means, I take pain and joy and try to create with it. Most songs are born when I am at my lowest. When all I have are questions and I don’t know which way is up. Through that friction, I am able to write. I write to try and make sense of it. In a way, it’s a treacherous journey through unknown lands and sometimes I have no idea where I’ll end up. I can only hope that I’ll arrive one step closer to my destination than before. From the pain comes the potential for beauty. Songs are my own personal canvas to try and see more clearly what was blurry before. My very purpose in life is born out of friction.
The enemy of life is comfort and security. I’m not saying these in and of themselves are bad, but that the pursuit of them alone will have devastating consequences. I have friends and family who have bought into a lie of security and comfort. Heck, our nation has bought into that same lie. We all somehow believe that everything is going to be okay. We look at our fellow man and think he must have done something wrong to be homeless. How judgmental have we become? How long can we keep this up? I’m not sure much longer. Far too often have I seen those go from a six digit salary to working at a part time fast food joint. This is pain. This is friction. But out of this can come creativity. Out of this friction we are reminded of the bigger picture. The investments we make must go deeper than our bank account. “Dead cash,” as I’ve heard it before. We were born for so much more than careers.
I am thankful for friction. The most painful moments in my life have often times brought me the farthest. Ironically, the times where I have chased comfort and security I have ended up feeling nothing but despair. There is no life to be found at the end of a movie, or a book. Or this post. Life must be created, just as we are. Make your life out of friction. Use the highs and lows to dream and create. Leave a legacy beyond the wills of kings and queens. Let love be your guide and never buy into the dogma of others but find your own way. In the end, let what you pass down to the future generations be an encouragement to dream bigger and live larger than comfort. Life is born out of friction.
