Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Jewel

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Jewel

In my own, personal, big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to Those of the Heart. These are the singers, songwriters and muses who have spent a lifetime capturing various aspects of the human condition. Frequently, due to the whims of the music industry, their lives were not always their own... but they persevered... ultimately remaining true to their roles as seers of the heart. 

One such kind soul?

Jewel.

Has there ever been a singer so sincere? 

She burst upon the scene in 1995, as fresh and innocent as a newborn fawn. 

Waif-like, with a voice that modulates from a whisper to a storm.

Having come from nothing - once homeless, living in a van - she has always appreciated the gifts life has given here. 

She's shared her wisdom in song and poetry and experimented with a number of musical styles along the way. 

Folk. Pop. Dance. Country. She's tried them all on, successfully.

Fame, marriage, motherhood, divorce... she speaks candidly of all she's experienced.

To this day, she remains as vital and inspiring an artist as when she first appeared.

The gospel according to her? 

Well, here are three from the hips, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Being Broken

"I wrote a line in a song once: “We are never broken.” I believe that truly. It is a hard-earned belief, and rose out of many years of experiencing the opposite. I believe we forget who we are over time, and in our state of forgetfulness we struggle and employ all kinds of learned behaviors that don’t necessarily help us or bring us happiness. Each of us has a self that exists undamaged and whole, from the moment we are born, waiting to be reclaimed. My life has not been about fixing what is broken. It has been about engaging in a loving and tender archaeological dig back to my true self."

"And believing that we are broken is the same as being broken. It means we experience ourselves that way. That perception shapes our reality. It is an illusion we must strive to avoid, as great misery comes from such a belief."

"Betrayal converts our innocence to wisdom if we can let go of pain, bitterness, and fear and create enough self-love and safety for ourselves to allow it to do so."

"My innocence is not lost—it has been converted into wisdom. The sensation we call "breaking" is the pain that comes from resisting the truth. Life broke parts of me that needed to fall away for me to live an open and truthful life."

Foolish Games - Jewel

Intuition - Jewel

Stay Here Forever - Jewel

And one last parting shot...

"In the end, only kindness matters."