Author’s note: I wrote this song in 2021 during height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance is from November 2024.
[Verse 1]
The road behind me has been rugged and rough.
The signs have directed me to sorrow.
The sun’s gleam has sparkled in tears
As it cast a tiny rainbow.
[Chorus]
I have to choose hope because my heart is wary.
I have to choose hope because my spirit is scarred.
I have to choose hope because I just can’t feel it.
I have to choose hope though I’m tired.
The day’s labor: was it worth the cost?
Did my heart and mind change at all?
Was a soul fed or a body lifted up?
Was anybody better off?
[Chorus]
Tomorrow’s shroud obscures its joy and pain.
Will hearts be wearied? Will hearts rise again?
I will summon a confidence far beyond my own
To believe in seeds that grow.
[Chorus]
© 2021 by Eric Anderson
ordainedgeek 
This is wonderful and I think that I remember it from Covid times. The message is profoundly important to me. Question — is the word “wary” in the chorus as in the transcription or “weary.”? Both speak to me … gosh I wish I was pruning in your garden.
It’s “wary” – that’s the original lyric as written, and heaven knows I struggle to sing it so that’s what people hear. The weariness comes along in the last line of the chorus: “I have to choose hope though I’m tired.”