Mona Lisa...

From time to time, as I sit on the sidewalk chatting with Demetrius and Cecelia or others in Emerald City and its surrounding bridge communities, I glance toward my Chevy Uplander[1].  A Mom and Dad's daughter is leaning in toward my tinted windows, using them as her makeup mirror.  She is holding back self-condemning tears and "fixing" her God created beautiful face in preparation for her hours of walking Kensington Avenue in search of that male high school dropout or that influential New Jersey Attorney[2] who is in apparent need of a blow job in exchange for a few dollars so that she can buy her next doses of medicine.

I'm in her home.  I can't stop her.

I observe her and cry in my spirit[3] as I realize that I'm in her territory under the Conrail overpass that she's called home since the earliest days of her homeless addiction.  I think of her Mom and Dad and aunt and honorable uncle, as well as her sons and daughters who ache for her health, safety and return to their family.  My heart quivers in the knowledge that she longs for the same but can't grasp it due to the strength of the arm wrestling battle between her addiction and her heart.

Dear LORD!  Where are the words to convey my heart's message to these ladies who think all is lost?

Thank you, Steven Curtis Chapman!!!!!

I caught you looking in the window at your reflection and
I could see you were unimpressed
I watch you wither like a willow at what you think are imperfections
When you compare you to all the rest
And I wish I could find a way to make you see you the way I do
So I wrote this song for you

You’re better than a Beethoven symphony
And Mona Lisa wishes she could be a masterpiece like you
More than any Michelangelo
When I look at you I know
There’s no other masterpiece like you
You are the only one and only you

There is music in your laughter the world has never heard before
You came and brought a melody
The way you say it the way you see it
When you’re sad and glad and so much more
All these gifts only you can bring
Still, I know that right now everything that you feel says it’s just not true
So I’ll keep reminding you that

You’re better than a Beethoven symphony
And Mona Lisa wishes she could be a masterpiece like you
More than any Michelangelo
When I look at you I know there’s no other masterpiece like you
You are the only one and only you

Wonderfully, carefully woven together by God’s own hand
And you’re better than a Beethoven symphony
And Mona Lisa wishes she could be a masterpiece like you
More than any Michelangelo
When I look at you I know there’s no other masterpiece like you
You are the only one and only you
You are the only one and only you[4]

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[1] With its 178 thousand miles

[2] And perhaps one right after the other in either order…

[3] And at my home once there

[4] Songwriters: Steven Curtis Chapman

Only One and Only You lyrics © BMG Rights Management US, LLC