Serve God, love me and mend
This is not the end
Lived unbruised, we are friends
And I'm sorry
I'm sorry
Sigh no more, no more
One foot in sea and one on shore
My heart was never pure
And you know me
You know me
But man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be
______________________________________
Love. It amazes me how fickle (or I suppose I should say "giddy") we can be when it comes to love. Our hearts zealously yearn for love that is given freely and without agenda. We are undeniably and unabashedly seeking to know love that is unconditional, unrelenting, unbounded and unreserved; yet so often we are unaware of the fact that we are unwilling and/or unequipped to express such a love to others. Our hearts and our souls plead for this purity of love "as it was made to be," yet we consciously or otherwise persist in perpetuating but a mere shadow of love's truest form.
Surely enough we have all experienced at one point in our lives a distorted reality attempting to masquerade as love. Perhaps the even greater injustice, however, is that we learn to accept these realities for what they pretend to be. Musical artists Sleeping At Last in their song "A Skeleton of Something More" propose that, "Love travels like a rumor here, losing form with every ear, it's a skeleton of something more." Love as it was made to be, the love that was extended to us at the beginning of time by the God who is love and created us out of love has traveled to us in many instances by way of others. I've seen the love of my father who gave up an incredibly well-paying job in order to be around as I grew up, and I've seen the love of my mother who has been steadfast in her grace and compassion which has impacted not only my family but countless others. Because of this, the reality of love I have seen is rooted in grace and self-sacrifice. I have known many other individuals who grew up with a very different reality of love, love that is selfish and self-seeking, love that feels justified in its anger and wrath. The love we know has arrived to our ear like a whisper in a long game of "telephone" as we used to play when we were children. It started pure and relentless and it has been twisted and bent as it was passed along and for some of us, it looks nothing like it should. For others of us, it is beautiful and strikingly similar to the original phrasing, yet it remains but a small portion of an abundantly greater reality. It is but a skeleton of what truly is.
May we seek to know Love at its truest form. May we learn to love often, deeply and without an agenda. May we do our best to pass along a love that is not dismaying or enslaving, but a love that will set others free as we ourselves have been set free and continue to be set free. May the reality of love that we offer others mutually inspire both us and the recipients to be more like the men and women that we were created to be.
Sigh No More
Determining The Rhythm, Chord and Melody
Rules. I suppose we should start with some rules. I don't foresee the need for any protocol when it comes to discussion by you the readers; mainly because I don't foresee receiving very much traffic to this little square of electronic realty, but also because the few who for whatever reason navigate to these ramblings and then decide to spend the time reading them will likely have trouble finding anything worth commenting on in the first place. No, the rules are for me for the sake of the readers.
1. This is not meant to be an attempt at lyrical exegesis; I don't presume to know the intentions of the theologians. In fact, many of the songs explored here may be written by artists who do not even profess a faith in Jesus. And yet despite their religious professions (or lack thereof), their artistic expressions have in some way aided in my ongoing quest for spiritual depth and maturity through deepening hermeneutics, casting new light on various subtleties and nuances, and/or beautification via simplification. All that to say that I don't want to put words in the mouths of the theologians (artists) that they never intended to be there. I don't want to make them say something they're not trying to say. Instead, I simply want to share how their lyrical expression has impacted my spiritual thinking, and hopefully somewhere in the process offer readers a chance to be impacted in similar ways.
2. Given that we've established that this is not an attempt at lyrical exegesis, I don't want my expositions to become a line by line and word by word interpretation of the songs. I want to simply highlight certain points that have been especially substantive for me personally while leaving opportunities for the readers to both pick up on points that I haven't highlighted and reinterpret points I am making. Let the songs speak to you where you are.
3. The greatest of these is Love. I will inevitably bring 90-95% of these expositions back to the topic of love. Without love we are bankrupt, so many of these ramblings will be based on or at least influenced by this topic. Get used to it.
4. If you have something to say, please say it. I truly believe one of the best ways we can grow is by continuously engaging in open dialogue with others. I need your input.