When I think about how I wrote the songs for Space of Brightness, my mind immediately goes back to one day in particular. October something. Bright sun. Crisp air. Crunchy leaves on the ground, and still more being taken from their branches by the wind. I just felt like writing something. So I got a chair, a notebook and pen, went out in my backyard, and sat underneath my favorite tree. I watched the season unfold for an afternoon.
And I just started to let my mind wander. I do this often. Dreaming with God is one of my favorite things to do. I think it’s one of His favorites too. I really believe He enjoys working with us. He does, after all, call us His friends. I can’t think of a more special time than to lay on a hillside with a good friend, dreaming about the possibilities of the present and the future. On this particular day, I started to imagine different people I had read about who were in prison for their faith that very day. I knew their stories, I knew their names, I knew what they looked like, I knew where they were. This may have been the day I started to feel what they felt. So many lyrics came to me on this day. As I imagined myself in their shoes, it was like I went inside their heart and I went inside their prison cell. And I just started to write different phrases down. I wasn’t trying to write a song, I just wanted to capture what I felt. I wrote down words that never made it into any of the songs on the album, but they helped me process the situation. I described what they may have been smelling and seeing, what may have been energizing them and what they may have felt like they were missing out on. I just wrote. No rules. It was so releasing and so special that it is still the first thing I think of when I remember how I approached writing for this album.
This afternoon defines my whole writing process for Space of Brightness. I did my homework and I let my imagination run wild. I breathed everything in and then tried to describe it. No thoughts about fitting things together or writing a “strong” chorus. Not even a thought about the finished product. I just dreamed and then tried to capture the dream with words.
If you want to create something, I think you have to learn to let yourself go a little bit. Dream really big and have an uninhibited vision. Don’t compare your process to others. Don’t compare your style to others. Unless, of course, you have a really outdated style and you need to learn from other people! If that’s the case, I hope you have the courage to change. The journey of becoming ourselves is one of the most important journeys in our time here on planet Earth. If we don’t value ourselves, our vision becomes limited, our lives become dull, and our impact becomes small. It’s true whether you’re a songwriter or a cake decorator! Knowing your worth will fuel your work.
So dream big! And be yourself! I don’t think you can separate the two.