Speaker 1: Creativity is an addiction, unplugged because we will always say
yes to creativity, totally uncut because we all make mistakes.
So let's turn it into a tool. This is arrow unplugged.
I'm a poet, one that just happens to write in
a forest. In twenty fifteen, I stepped into a very
special collection of trees at the Billy Graham Library right
here in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there I did nothing
but write, but they were never my words. They were
the lyrics from Billy's Forest. Nearly two years later, God
spoke directly into my heart. He said, dude, it's time
for you to grow beyond the library, to write in
other collections of trees, mainly your own forest in South Charlotte,
North Carolina. You see in every place that I have written,
the spirit of Billy's lyrics vibrate the purpose and plan
that God is put into play. I never know what
I'm going to write about when I enter any of
these forests, which gives us plenty of time to talk
about it in the end. Remember these aren't my words.
These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter number three
hundred thirty eight, October fifteenth, twenty twenty two. A spider's
web that stretches from the roof gutters to the deck
overlooking the forest has become a collector of the falling leaves.
I see it as being caught in the final dance.
Each leaf might have been looking forward to warming the
forest floor, but the spider's web stop them in mid flight.
It's stuck in a silent frame, as if to be
trapped in a human smartphone selfie. I could take a
picture of it, but the future receiver may not understand
this particular moment. Leaves fall every day, It's no big
deal unless you're sitting very close to the spider's web
and time for these leaves stand still, a completely natural lockdown,
held in a moment until an extremely strong gust of
wind rips the spider's web away from its connection. Or
as a human, I could take a broom and sweep
it clean. But why why what if the dried leaves
are helping to keep the spider warm and away from
that wind. It's natural music, natural music. What around you
is completely one hundred percent natural. But your human side,
who washes it away? Something that was so blessed in
your moment of WHOA, that's pretty cool, and your human
side who washed it away. There was once a time,
back in the nineteen nineties, in my early days of
daily writing, that I would visit the forest every single day,
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, and
I would make my way down this ninety five foot drop.
And the reason being is because I wanted to go
sit next to the creek that led to the lake
that led to the ocean. But by sitting by that creek,
I wanted to embrace a moment of connectedness with the universe.
But to get there, I had to go down the hill.
That hill was always blessed with this amazing array of
spider webs. When I would go down the hill, I
would always look down at my feet to make sure
I was making the right step. But one day, one
day I looked up and away from my feet, and
I fell witness to one of the most beautiful spider webs.
It was just so elegant, the way that the frost
in the air lit it up. And there I was.
In that moment. I could have walked through that spider's
web and destroyed that piece of art, but in looking up,
I was able to embrace it and respect it. So
what are you doing while you're looking down? What are
you missing? Are you the human that's going to wash
it all away? Or is it time that you start
to embrace the natural music around what makes you you.
It's all there, but we're choosing to do other things,
and that takes us away from the one thing, Nature's
endless conversation with our mind, body, soul, and self. Take
the time to start looking up and outward. You're going
to find a new world that is speaking directly into
your heart, the natural music of an everyday life. I Merril,
these are not my words. These are the lyrics from
Billy's Forest