No, I wasn’t awake at 2. It’s a song title. Written by Julie Miller and recorded with her husband Buddy a few years back. I had the album, Breakdown on 20th Avenue South, playing in the background Tuesday morning as I was working.

I chose it as ambient music, something soft that wouldn’t distract me from what I was doing. Which can be a problem, given how much I love music. It is all to easy to get sidetracked and stop what I am doing to listen to what is playing, when all I really wanted was a background hum.

I’ve played the album dozens of times before. But on Tuesday, when “Thoughts at 2 a.m.” came on I stopped what I was doing and listened. really listened.

I know when I am awake at 2 a.m. my thoughts are generally on why I can’t sleep. I’m not very coherent at that hour. I don’t think many of us are.

Which makes these words even more special. I stopped what I was doing to listen, and realized that this is not so much a song as a prayer. A prayer for leadership in our society. A prayer for justice. A prayer for light and truth in the face of darkness and lies. An acknowledgement of the majesty of God, and a hope for the future in a dark world.

The song made my day, as songs sometimes do. Take a listen. Let it speak to you too.

Thoughts at 2 a.m.

You render your oppressors silent with your wordless eyes
You own the life of every man from birth until he dies
You see collective evil sway like ships upon the sea
Like currents carried ’round the world by men so mindlessly

Your enemies, so fierce and cruel, one day will all bow down
And every tongue confess your name, compelled to make the sound

{Verse 2}
People sell philosophies like confidence men
And so the blind lead on the blind into the ditch again
The powers of the darkness try to swallow up the truth
But in the end, they find their lying mouth just lost a tooth

The author of compassion has our pain beneath his skin
And so the whole wide world upon his fingertip does spin

{Verse 3}
I fool myself on purpose and I’ve been out on the run
I’ve painted myself pictures where I could hide from what I’ve done
But longingly the mighty one seeks me like a lost lamb
And tenderly he calls and says his child is who I am

Awake my heart, awake my heart, attune to hear his word
Inside the great cacophony a single voice is heard

{Verse 4}
You say your sheep know your voice and they will follow you
And they will heed no other call besides the one that’s true
You watch as hearts grow harder and the lights of justice dim
You see your children suffering and want to carry them

The time is soon, yes soon the cursed snake will lose effect
And God Almighty’s bride will have her foot up on his neck