| Leonard Cohen – Suzanne Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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Several other things about faith in this song are in these verses: And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water //// And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower //// And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him //// He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them //// But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open //// Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone //// //// The other points are: 1) Only people who are really suffering will open their minds enough to see Jesus. So he says that people will be stuck in the small confines of a sailboat and the grueling efforts of operating a sailboat on the sea ... until the sea capsizes or sinks it, resulting in enough suffering to cause them to be open to seeing Jesus. If they’re not suffering enough, Jesus cannot even help free them. So suffering plays a key role. This is partly why Jesus said it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven. Because rich people have enough resources to stave off the amount of suffering that is needed to be open to seeing Jesus ... and also have enough resources to keep themselves distracted during suffering. It may help to explain why belief in Jesus has skyrocketed in Africa during the past 50 years, while it's plummeted in rich countries like the US and Europe. At any rate, Cohen’s verse also fits with the famous saying of “there are no atheists in foxholes.” 2) By saying that Jesus was “"forsaken, almost human” Cohen conveys that Jesus is fully divine. And that during the time in which he was forsaken, he was almost human and experienced human emotions. A portion of early Christians thought Jesus was only divine and not really human, but the consensus was that he was both God/divine and also human. Elsewhere in the song, Cohen achieves this balance by saying that even when Jesus was doing divine, miraculous things like walking on water and even though he was so divine that he was only “almost human”, he was at the same time still a human (a sailor, which is the metaphor that Cohen uses for humans in the song). 3) Before the sky would open is likely a reference to Jesus’s ascendance into heaven through the sky. While the Bible says there were clouds in the sky during the ascension, some famous paintings of the ascension show him ascending into an open sky like this Rembrandt painting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_of_Jesus#/media/File:Rembrandt_van_Rijn_192.jpg. It might also refer to the book of revelation’s description of the second coming which says: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True …” and goes on to describe Jesus returning. But a second coming hasn’t occurred, so I think Cohen is referring to the ascension. 4) The verse about “He spent a long time waiting” refers to Jesus spending the first 30 years of his life watching people, before he began his teaching and ministry at the age 30. Working as a carpenter in a tiny village in a remote, rural area like Gallilee in an era long before telephones, radio, TV, post offices or other forms of communication is akin to being in a lonely wooden tower. 5) Jesus was broken and sunk by weak human wisdom that thought he was dangerous (for advocating things like giving most of our possessions to the poor, loving our enemies, forgiving the people who hurt us) and thus he must be eliminated. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Suzanne Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[Lurtz:49455] [[ This site doesn't allow paragraph returns, so this is now one paragraph ]]: I largely agree with you, though I'd clarify one thing: love and faith often have a power that is stronger than rationality, yet are not irrational. Cohen explains the rationality of love and faith throughout the song. For example, if Jesus touches us with his mind, that is a good reason to trust him and go with him even though you don't know where it will take you. It's impossible to know or have foresight on where a life of following Jesus will take you, so you are in effect traveling blind, but it is not without reason. Since it's early days, Christianity has had a strong emphasis on having a balance of both faith and reason. The founders of the majority of the fields of science were priests and monks. The arena of philosophy, which has a strong emphasis on reason, was for its first 1,700 years made up mostly of Christians, Jews and a small number of Greeks who attained high spiritual heights and believed in God. Many atheists try to attack people who believe in God or who believe in Jesus for having "blind faith" and they try to claim that it's without reason. However, Cohen in this song points out at least one good reason to believe in and follow Jesus: if he has affected you in a positive way. Another reason is that his teachings are brilliant and were 3,000 years ahead of their time. Most people on both the right and the left in the US today still haven’t caught up with what he taught. For example, most people on the left mostly only want to help people who are located in the US, nearly all of whom are already in the richest third of people in the world. Yet Jesus said the neighbors that we must love are foreignors who are in great physical need, and who we don’t identify with at all and we don’t feel like helping. The Jews and the Samaritans were in different countries and disliked each other. Dozens of other times he said the key criteria for helping people was their being highly poor. He said loving meant helping them in material ways: giving them a coat, feeding them, etc. Yet 95% of donations made by Americans go to other Americans, almost all of whom are in the richest third (and who have about 700% more than the poorest third). Most donations go to the richest 10% (everyone making over $10k a year), who have about 10,000% more than the poorest 10%. Most people on the both the left and the right are guilty of this. In the future, people will look back and think it was barbaric and massive discrimination that the poorest third were almost completely ignored and got less than 5% of the donations made. Yet 2,050 years ago, a guy who did physical labor in a tiny fishing village in a rural area of the Middle East was ahead of where we are even at today after 2,000 years of signficant progress in the directions of the things he said we should do. Plus that was when he was only 30 years old. His radical teachings were shared with only a fairly small number of people at a time when books weren’t widely available and most people could read and write. Yet his teachings massively changed the world. While that’s not guaranteed proof that he was divine, it’s a reason to believe he was, especially if you’ve also had a positive personal experience of him. Another reason is that there is historical proof that his original followers said that they saw him after he was crucified by Rome, and they were willing to be brutally killed just for admitting this. Non-Christian historians of the time wrote about this. Another reason is that anyone who has lived for more than 40 years knows that we humans are messed up and off track in numerous ways and are really in need of help. So it’s reasonably logical that God would enter the world in human form to help. Thus there is more than one reason to believe in Jesus, and even more reasons to believe in God in general. Indeed, it’s more rational to believe that this incredibly complex, intricate and beautiful world was created by a creator via the incredible big bang and the ensuing process of evolution than “believing” it occured only by total chance. So faith and reason work together. Faith is different from yet related to reason, and many times faith can be more powerful or more important than reason. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Suzanne Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[Lurtz:49454] I largely agree with you, though I'd clarify one thing: love and faith often have a power that is stronger than rationality, yet are not irrational. Cohen explains the rationality of love and faith throughout the song. For example, if Jesus touches us with his mind, that is a good reason to trust him and go with him even though you don't know where it will take you. It's impossible to know or have foresight on where a life of following Jesus will take you, so you are in effect traveling blind, but it is not without reason. Since it's early days, Christianity has had a strong emphasis on having a balance of both faith and reason. The founders of the majority of the fields of science were priests and monks. The arena of philosophy, which has a strong emphasis on reason, was for its first 1,700 years made up mostly of Christians, Jews and a small number of Greeks who attained high spiritual heights and believed in God. Many atheists try to attack people who believe in God or who believe in Jesus for having "blind faith" and they try to claim that it's without reason. However, Cohen in this song points out at least one good reason to believe in and follow Jesus: if he has affected you in a positive way. Another reason is that his teachings are brilliant and were 3,000 years ahead of their time. Most people on both the right and the left in the US today still haven’t caught up with what he taught. For example, most people on the left mostly only want to help people who are located in the US, nearly all of whom are already in the richest third of people in the world. Yet Jesus said the neighbors that we must love are foreignors who are in great physical need, and who we don’t identify with at all and we don’t feel like helping. The Jews and the Samaritans were in different countries and disliked each other. Dozens of other times he said the key criteria for helping people was their being highly poor. He said loving meant helping them in material ways: giving them a coat, feeding them, etc. Yet 95% of donations made by Americans go to other Americans, almost all of whom are in the richest third (and who have about 700% more than the poorest third). Most donations go to the richest 10% (everyone making over $10k a year), who have about 10,000% more than the poorest 10%. Most people on the both the left and the right are guilty of this. In the future, people will look back and think it was barbaric and massive discrimination that the poorest third were almost completely ignored and got less than 5% of the donations made. Yet 2,050 years ago, a guy who did physical labor in a tiny fishing village in a rural area of the Middle East was ahead of where we are even at today after 2,000 years of signficant progress in the directions of the things he said we should do. Plus that was when he was only 30 years old. His radical teachings were shared with only a fairly small number of people at a time when books weren’t widely available and most people could read and write. Yet his teachings massively changed the world. While that’s not guaranteed proof that he was divine, it’s a reason to believe he was, especially if you’ve also had a positive personal experience of him. Another reason is that there is historical proof that his original followers said that they saw him after he was crucified by Rome, and they were willing to be brutally killed just for admitting this. Non-Christian historians of the time wrote about this. Another reason is that anyone who has lived for more than 40 years knows that we humans are messed up and off track in numerous ways and are really in need of help. So it’s reasonably logical that God would enter the world in human form to help. Thus there is more than one reason to believe in Jesus, and even more reasons to believe in God in general. Indeed, it’s more rational to believe that this incredibly complex, intricate and beautiful world was created by a creator via the incredible big bang and the ensuing process of evolution than “believing” it occured only by total chance. So faith and reason work together. Faith is different from yet related to reason, and many times faith can be more powerful or more important than reason. |
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| Cat Stevens – Oh Very Young Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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It’s a call to younger generations to “change your mind” from worrying (tossing and turning means worrying) about their own personal desires/dreams (because they won’t last) … and instead use their “short while” on earth to love and leave the world better … and thereby enter heaven. Someone mentioned a Buddhist theme, but the emphasis of the Buddha was not much on leaving the world a better place, but rather on exiting the world. This song is far more of a Jewish-Christian message given that both of those wisdom traditions have a strong emphasis on making the world better. One of the biggest symbols in Christianty is the white dove, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the love that flows back and forth between God and Christ - and also the flow of love between God/Jesus and humanity. Also in many places the Bible says “God is love.” So the lyrics of: will you carry “love with you. Will you ride the great white bird into heaven?” is probably a reference to the holy spirit. Google “holy spirit” and click on Images and almost 100% are of white doves. Likewise, both Judaism and Christianity emphasis that God expects us to make the world better, and convey that it affects whether we’ll get into heaven. It’s not the sole determinant, but it’s a factor. One example of many is in the passage about helping “the least of these,” Jesus says that those who don’t help people in the greatest need, they won’t access heaven. The Old Testament (Jewish sections before Jesus came) have similar themes. Likewise, in Buddhism a person can only reach heaven through their own efforts and without divine help, and we must spend countless lives doing tons of meditation to work off all of our karma and to develop enough virtues to eventually reach heaven. But Christianity conveys that we can get there sooner and easier with God’s help (love’s help), and we can’t do it on our own. So “riding” another being into heaven is the opposite of what the Buddha taught, and matches exactly with Christian teaching. The theme of not becoming attached to things is part of both Buddhism and Christianity. Cat’s parents were originally Greek Orthodox, but he was raised Catholic. They only attended church some of the time, so the family wasn’t very religious. But besides church, Cat said he also studied Christianity to some degree in school. So he would have been well aware of the meaning of a white dove. He did also do some reading about Buddhism, and that shows up in a few of his songs. But I don’t think this is really one of them. On the same album he has a song named “Jesus” in which he talks about both Jesus and Buddha. He wrote this album a few years before he became Muslim, and said it was before he even considered Islam or read any texts of Islam. So that didn’t influence Oh Very Young or any of his well-known songs. He stopped singing soon after his conversion. |
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| Jackson Browne – Colors of the Sun Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Near the start of the song, he refers to “picking for a coin” and that as he does so, “many other tiny worlds go singing past my hand.” He could be saying: “As I picked for a coin in my pocket, the tiny worlds of the people who held this coin before me went singing past my hand.” The coin made him think of the tiny worlds of the other people who owned the coin. This makes sense because the next part of the song encourages us to awake to see the reality (that we are not dreaming - it really is this way) … that the lives of most humans are occupied by their efforts to “scuffle with the crowd to get their share” and “conquer little bits of time.” The “tiny worlds” of the first section ties in with the “little bits of time” that people manage to conquer during their lives. The coin of the earlier verse ties in with the fact that people getting their share involves money. But despite getting their share (their piece of the pie) and conquering little bits of time, they still “fall” and they end up on their death beds drawing “numbers in the air.” When you die, your money is worthless and doesn’t do anything: it’s like writing numbers in the air. People have spent their lives scuffling for their share, and when they die and leave their bodies, it’s worthless and does them no good. You can’t take your share with you: it’s just numbers in the air. In the next verse, he continues with the air theme saying that he hears “voices in the air” coming from the trees and he contrasts their “sympathetic harmony,” with another allusion to materialism: “many shiny surfaces” that are “clinging.” This is along the lines of the classic saying “all that glitters is not gold.” Likewise, an occasional theme of spiritual people who are wary of materialism is to talk about the “shiny things” of the world of materialism trying to capture their attention. Next he conveys that he’s not going to take the same path because he’s not going to plan his life out to make sure he gets his share, and he pointedly says that he won’t lose out by doing this. Then he talks about a savior in the sky (in the air) who knows the way, but finds that most people don't want to know the way. Combined with the next lines about Joseph and Mary, this seems to be an allusion to Jesus and his core teachings that pursuing money is not the way, and that pursuing love, goodness and kindness are the way. This is expressed in dozens of well-known ways from the “it’s harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven” to the story of the good Samaritan in which most people walk past the injured man because they are too busy on their way to getting their share. Ditto the saying “You can’t serve both money and God” with God sometimes referred to as “love” and “mercy.” One correction to the lyrics on this site is that Jackson clearly sings: "I say goodbye to Joseph and Maria. They think they see another sky.” ... not "They think I see another sky.” Jackson sometimes uses “sky” to refer to the great beyond … so perhaps he’s saying Joseph and Maria have departed in that direction. In the last line, Jackson indicates that he’s not the aforementioned savior by stating that he’ll “never free” Joseph and Maria. Maybe Jackson was a bit worried people would think he was saying that he was the “disillusioned savior’ so he put in the last line to make that clear. I don't think Jackson was making a pro-Christianity statement with the song … because he wasn’t Christian. I do think he was giving an anti-materialism message and used the allusion to Jesus to back his message up. And he “might” have consciously or unconsciously tapped into a couple of other aspects of Judeo-Christian spiritual themes given 16 of the 38 parables are about money, and many are widely known by most of society. There’s no way to tell, but some of his other songs on his earlier albums have similar allusions or themes from Judeo-Christian spirituality. On the “Late for the Sky” album, he literally mentions the Bible. Interestingly, Jackson’s statement in “Colors of the Sun” of I’m not going to plan it out and I won’t lose because of it … is very similar to this: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? … Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:25-34) I think Jackson probably didn’t tap into the Bible for that part of the song, but it is interesting that his thinking is so similar. |
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| Mat Kearney – nothing left to lose Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Aha, I just found Kearney’s biography by his record label Inpop Records and it confirms most of the above: Here are some clips: These first two are less so but are good warm ups - “Bullet exemplifies such a connection with "Undeniable," a beautiful pop song with an epic chorus and a catchy acoustic hook. The song itself finds inspiration in a troubled young man who told Kearney about his need to make changes in his life. Ironically, he was a student at a local high school, which was under construction at the time. Kearney, who drove by the school every time he went to the studio, turned the school's demolition into a metaphor for the uprooting of the young man's life. "The roots of that song are really in seeing joy on the other side of pain-of coming to know God and the undeniable nature of who He is." “Elsewhere on the album, "Train Wreck" blends ethereal guitars and hard-hitting drums with pure mass pop appeal. "It's a song based on Psalm 139, where David talks about God being our only source of hope-essentially that he's been ruined for Christ and that everything else pales in comparison." This is the main of it - “Looking back, Kearney first left Eugene, Oregon to play soccer at Chico State University, the notorious school that was once dubbed the No. 1 party school in the nation. Kearney, who occasionally sold weed in high school, fit right into university's wild ways before eventually hitting rock bottom. "I guess I lived it up and did what everyone said you should do in college," he recalls. "I discovered the depth of depravity, the bleakness of that lifestyle. It just wasn't working. I finally started understanding there must be more to life." It was at this point where Kearney had a life-changing encounter with Christ. "God found me when I was at my lowest point. That was the first time in my life when I really felt like I understood who Jesus was-it was more than just knowing about Him, I felt like He met me in that time and place." Continued more below... “Around this time, Kearney met producer Robert Marvin (Stacie Oricco, Toby Mac), who immediately wanted to work with the new artist. Later, when Marvin moved to Nashville, Kearney decided to come along for the summer. While there, the two continued making music and soon found label interest. Kearney, however, actually turned down recording offers to continue developing his sound. Deciding not to leave Nashville, he and Marvin started recording Kearney's debut on their own before the singer eventually signed a deal with Inpop Records. In the end, Kearney got to make the exact record he wanted to make with no compromises. Kearney concludes, "My artistic goal was to write something that's one hundred percent real and true to me and to this world. I tried to touch on truths that really connect with people from every avenue of life. Ultimately, when you write from a vantage point of faith, humility and openness to the world around you, people have to respond because those same truths are instilled in them. Honestly, I don't have any agenda other than being sincere, real, and passionate about these songs and the music I make." Also, I found this interesting interview that’s not about this song but reenforces the overall idea - http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2005/matkearney-0205.html And this review - http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2006/nothinglefttolose.html |
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| Mat Kearney – nothing left to lose Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I’m glad I found this site because I love the song, and it makes much more sense now. I originally figured it was about a girl, and now I think it is indeed about his spiritual discoveries and his life. I at first hesitated in writing this in that am generally wary of southern Christians because of their conservative political tendencies and at times bigoted/homophobic tendencies. But that said, many Christians in a place like Nashville are different and open-minded, and from just now also reading the journal at his site and the books he's reading and the things he's into, it seems clearly Mat is amongst those. Below is why I think the song conveys his life bio and his spiritual journey with God. Maybe some of the items I describe are not exactly what he intended, but taken as a whole , I believe you can’t ignore that its about his fairly recent discovery of a connection with God (or at least a deeper connection). The song is like a Rumi poem and while you could misinterpret it to be about a girl (Rumi poems also sound like they could be written to women), I really don’t think it is. It’s also beautiful like a Rumi poem in that it’s not blatantly explicit, but makes its meaning more known as you get into it. If you look closely at the lyrics, at his life and the fact that he has said the song is about his life, it doesn’t make sense that it would be about a girl. Look closely at it. Here goes: “Something’s in the air tonight The sky’s alive with a burning light You can mark my words something’s about to break And i found myself in a bitter fight While I’ve held your hand through the darkest night” * The darkest night is a common Christian reference - see for example the book The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. And it’s a common metaphor in churches in homilies and sermons. It’s also often used among Christians who have a personal relationship with God. So the song opens with him looking back - finding himself in a bitter fight, and having held hands with God (as I’ll lay out, the “you” in this song I think is God or spirit) in the darkest night of his party days at Chico, where he likely had a personal/spiritual crisis or maybe was mistreated by shallow college students or something else that was tough for him. And he says “the sky’s alive with a burning light” - a common religious metaphor. And that “something’s about to break” - that is, something is about to break open in his life (which turns out to be leaving, and packing his car and heading east). He also says: “Don’t know where you’re coming from but you’re coming soon” Again - for anyone who has ever had an experience of God (or if you prefer to call it love/truth/etc.) you know it’s accurate for him to say he doesn’t know where his feeling of God is coming from (the “mystery” of God). But he does feel that its presence is coming soon. “To a kid from Oregon by way of California All of this is more than I’ve ever known or seen” * He likely is referring to the fact that looking back on being from Eugene, Oregon (a fairly secular, non-religious place) and a state party school in California, that being in a heavily religious place like Nashville and experiencing God or Jesus is more than he’s ever known. Keep in mind that in the chorus, he’s no longer in California (Chico) or Oregon - he’s in Nashville (at least right now - as he says he’s not sure what is next.) Also, in his journal he says he wrote most of the song on the back steps of his house in Nashville. “Come on and we’ll sing, like we were free” * True freedom is essentially a spiritual experience (regardless of whether you call it God or not) “ I’m off of the floor one more time to find you” Live knocks him down, or he falls himself, and he’s up off the floor to connect with God again. “And here we go there’s nothing left to choose And here we go there’s nothing left to lose” Christians (and those from many other religions) who have connected with God many times state things akin to “there’s nothing left to choose” to indicate they’ve found something (God) that is so good and enjoyable that it’s an obvious clear-cut choice. Also, Christians (and also those from other religions) who have connected with a sense of God’s will for them also state that there’s nothing left to choose other than God’s will for themselves. For example, a major vein of Catholic spirituality are the prayers and practices of St. Ignatius - aka Ignation spirituality. This is a common prayer: Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. All I have and call my own. Whatever I have or hold, you have given me. I return it all to you and surrender it wholly to be governed by your will. Give me only your love and your grace and I am rich enough and ask for nothing more. Likewise, the theme of nothing left to lose has the connotation that he’s given it all up for God and has nothing left to lose at this point. “So I packed my car and headed east Where I felt your fire and a sweet release There’s a fire in these hills that’s coming down” * As described before, his “break” that he sensed would occur does, and he packs and heads east to the hills of nashville. As he drives into Nashville he feels the fire of the holy spirit and a sweet release. Look up the “holy spirit” on wikipedia for example and it says: “Fire - symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's action ... ... Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized by a flame of fire.” When the holy spirit first came to the apostles after Christ’s passing at the Pentecost, it comes in the form of tongues of fire coming down on their heads. And for “a sweet release,” wikipedia (or if you don’t like wikipedia see almost any other site) writes - “the Spirit is usually described as a comforter or helper.” Also this part: “The Spirit's action in one's life is believed to produce positive results, known as the Fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit manifests these gifts by enabling a person to access his or her own innate abilities.” ... corelates with “a fire in these hills that’s coming down” that by the tone and feeling of the song conveys he’s happy with the movement of spirit in his life while in nashville at present. Finally, southern churches are known for their emphasis on the spirit, and its movement - and for being more fiery in their worship than elsewhere. “And I don’t know much but i found you here” * He was kind of lost up until now, but he found God / spirit in Nashville. Wikipedia: The Holy Spirit is offered generously through God's love, but given only to those that seek Him. “And I can not wait another year Don’t know where you’re coming from but you’re coming soon” * People who discover God in a serious way for the first time often have a sense that they cannot wait. They want more and want in in the months ahead. They are often more passionate than long-time believers. This is true of most religious traditions, even for Buddhists who don’t necessarily use the word God. Many people who for the first time on a Buddhist meditation retreat experience deep peace or love that is unconnected to a person (i.e. not romantic love) or a passing circumstance (e.g. getting a raise) suddently want to meditate like crazy or do a bunch of longer retreats. They want more of that love/peace/joy/Godness. “To a kid from Oregon by way of California All of this is more than i’ve ever known or seen” * As someone mentioned earlier, Nashville is packed with churches and Christianity is very prominent - there’s no way he saw anything like that in Cali or Oregon. And for music, I’m sure he never say anything like the large number of Christian musicians all concentrated in one place. Think about it - what else does Nashville have that Oregon or California would not - that is more than what he’d ever known or seen: a heavy emphasis on God, a huge number of churches, a lot of Christian music and a lot of country music. “I can still hear the trains out my window From Hobart street to here in Nashville” * He lived on a street in California by that name near the tracks, and he has trains near his house in Nashville - as he describes in the journal on his site. Poetic. “I can still smell the pomegranates grow And I don’t know how hard this wind will blow Or where we’ll go” * First line is poetic transition and 2nd line is again a reference to the holy spirit/movement of God. From wikipedia: “In the Scripture, the word most frequently used for "spirit" is ruwakh, meaning "breath, wind, spirit." In the Greek Scriptures, the word is pneuma, having a similar meaning.” Also the other distinguishing characteristic of the Pentecost (the first visit of the holy spirit in the bible) was that a mighty wind descended upon the crowd. “Come on and we’ll sing, like we were free Push the pedal down watch the world around fly by us Come on and we’ll try, one last time I’m off of the floor one more time to find you And here we go there’s nothing left to choose And here we go there’s nothing left to lose” * Here are more thoughts by way of wikipedia’s list of what are often described as fruits of the movement of the spirit - they include many of the things he demonstrates, exudes and put forths in the song - - Wisdom (the song has lots of it) - Faith (again lots of it, he’s not sure how hard the spirit will blow through his life or where it will take him, but he says come on let’s go - Ability to lead - he’s leading people in saying “here we go” and “come on we’ll try” and “come on and we’ll sing” - Discern spiritual, physical and mental conditions - his whole song is about discerning these various condtions - Ability to experience healing (a sweet release) - Prophecy and visions - You can mark my words something’s about to break ... you’re coming soon. - A strong, personal connection to God (again this song is like Rumi poetry in his connection being strong) I’m pretty excited because I already loved the song, and went to look up the song lyrics (because I couldn’t make out some words) and came across this page. Now that I see it’s about God, I love it even more and can see the lyrics are far deeper and stronger than mere whimsical passing romance. It’s a really actually a powerhouse song. It’s also mature, wise spirituality in that he doesn’t claim to know where things are going to go. He’s open and moving ahead. In his journal he writes - “i have been writing a lot these days. i'm trying my best to find the songs that resonate deep in your bones” Ah - I’d say you’re doing that. I also like this journal clip - May 15, 2006 - the north shore of oahu i flew to hawaii for 24 hours to watch my brother graduate from college. tonight we rode in the back of his roommate's truck down to a makapu'u bay were we body surfed under a full moon. the ocean was black and incredibly strong.i think god created waves to remind you of how small you are. |
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