Here’s this week’s installment of Five Minute Friday. You might remember the task is to write for five minutes on a specific prompt word. The initiative was started by Lisa-Jo Baker (http://lisajobaker.com/2013/05/five-minute-friday-song/) who thought about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And she figured, why not take five minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing.

This week’s prompt is SONG

The timer is set … so here goes. {clock starts now}

As I read the prompt, my mind ferried back to the early 1990s and a song I had heard on an adult contemporary station in Washington, DC. I didn’t know the name of the tune or the group, but the haunting ballad resonated with me … encouraging me to hang on to my faith as the world seemed to crumble.

At dinner, I was telling the family about the song and how it really touched me. The kids knew right away. It was Show Me the Way by the rock group Styx.

Styx? A rock group?

I didn’t listen to rock songs — even then my listening of choice was soft contemporary and Christian.

But it was indeed Styx. And it was indeed Show Me the Way.

It wasn’t a rock song. It was an anthem. It really touched my soul. It’s easy to slip into cynicism as things spiral out of control. This was centering …STOP

… Just goes to show, you can’t judge a book — or a song or an artist — by its outward appearance.

Every night I say a prayer in the hope that there’s a heaven
And every day I’m more confused as the saints turn into sinners
All the heroes and legends I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay
And I feel this empty place inside so afraid that I’ve lost my faith …

Take me tonight to the river
And wash my illusions away
Show me the way, show me the way
Give me the strength and the courage
To believe that I’ll get there someday
Show me the way …

Well, that’s what popped into this mind this week. By the way, the song hit the charts just about the time of shock and awe at the outset of the first Gulf War.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: It’s easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.