Each Is A Living Flute

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Suffering makes an instrument of each of us,
So that standing naked, holes and all,
The unseen vitalities can be heard
Through our simplified lives
Mark Nepo

Make My Life A Flute

I have never been able to play a flute. I try too hard to force my breath through. I blow and no music is made. I correct my lips and try again. I watch and listen to others. I look at the flute and try to figure out the delicate puzzle. A forced song does not soar. I want my song to soar. I want to see flutes differently.

Make My Life A Flute

Let the holes in my heart make music. Let my song fly through and in and over doubt and fear and anger. Let my breath weave a melody of strength and resilience and power. Let the architecture of my openings create a unique story that builds and resonates and inspires.

Make My Life A Flute

Let me understand life’s symphony of joy, loss, success, disappointment, change, and death more deeply. Let me see each season of life as a movement. Let my ears hear sweet harmony and dissonance. Let my hands grasp the prayer of each day. Let my eyes see beauty. Let my heart write music. Let my mind improvise. Let me be carried away.

Make My Life A Flute

Let me do things I have not done. Let me accept challenges that scare me. Let me live in possibility. Let me learn new songs. Let me rejoice when I fail. Let me know excellence in my bones. Let me value practice. Let me hold great concerts. Let me share my heart. Let me invite others in. Let me teach and serve.

Make My Life A Flute

When life is a flute, weakness becomes strength and faults become virtues. When life is a flute, failure becomes blessing and doubt becomes clarity. When life is a flute, fear becomes faith and change becomes growth. When life is a flute, wounds heal. When life is a flute, the why and the not yet dance. Each living is a flute.